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0R.  NOYES  died  at  his  home  in  Evanston,  Illinois,  January 
14,  1889,  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  His  frame  was 
naturally  stalwart.  It  is  true  that  during  his  last  year  in  the 
Theological  Seminary  he  suffered  from  severe  hemorrhages  of  the 
lungs.  But  in  a  few  weeks  he  rallied  from  the  weakness  which 
followed  them,  and,  after  his  ministry  began,  his  health  gradually 
became  robust.  He  continued  in  strong  health  until  a  year  or  two 
before  the  end  came.  In  the  early  part  of  1888,  however,  his  long- 
continued  heavy  cares  and  sorrows,  and  his  years  of  self-forgetting 
toil  in  the  pastorate,  on  the  press,  and  in  the  general  missionary 
enterprises  of  his  denomination,  led  to  a  marked  impairment  of  his 
strength.  Urged  by  his  devoted  church,  he  accepted  a  vacation. 
When  he  returned  to  his  work,  he  considered  himself  fully  restored ; 
but  there  were  indications  that  his  health  was  still  so  imperfect  as  to 
render  him  specially  susceptible  to  the  attack  of  any  acute  disease. 
During  the  last  Christmas  week  he  attended  the  annual  "  Messiah" 
concert  in  Chicago,  and  sat  in  a  draught  throughout  the  evening. 
In  that  way  he  caught  cold;  and  when  the  Sabbath  morning  of 


December    3Oth  came,    he    was   seriously   ill.      While    playfully 
£.  declining  to  have  a  physician  called,  he   had   been  unable  to  com- 
«-    plete  his  sermon  for  that  morning,  and   it  was  afterwards  found, 
'  half    finished,    on   his  study  table.      Against   the   protests   of  his 
r\    family  he   appeared  in   the  pulpit,  where  Dr.   Patterson  assisted 
him,  and  by   making   a  painful  struggle    he  barely  succeeded  in 
^  getting  through  the  service.     But  in  the  evening  he  was  compelled 
3~   to  remain  at  home,  prostrated.    After  baffling  his  medical  attendants 
U_   for   a   day  or   two,  his  disease   developed    into  pneumonia.     His 
^->  progress   seemed   favorable    until  January   loth,  when   the    heart 


suddenly  began  to  show  symptoms  of  failure,  and  his  condition 
became  alarming.  The  next  three  days  were  filled,  for  his  family 
and  friends,  with  alternating  hopes  and  fears.  As  three  o'clock  of 
Monday  was  approaching,  the  weakness  of  death  crept  over  his 
body,  but  his  mind  continued  to  be  clear  to  the  last.  The  suffering 
household  gathered  about  his  bed,  and  waited.  Asked  if  he  recog- 
nized them,  he  was  just  able  to  say  "Yes,"  and  feebly  to  press  his 
daughter's  hand.  They  read  passages  of  Scripture  to  him, 
bravely  sang  two  or  three  of  his  favorite  hymns,  and  joined  in 
repeating  the  Lord's  prayer  and  the  Twenty-third  Psalm.  Soon 
after  they  had  finished,  he  clasped  his  hands  over  his  breast,  to  inti- 
mate that  he  wanted  one  of  them  to  offer  prayer.  His  sister  led  in 
the  solemn  act  of  worship,  which  evidently  pleased  him.  Presently, 
in  the  silence,  at  eight  minutes  past  three,  the  moment  of  triumph 
arrived.  His  tired,  peaceful  face  lighted  up  with  a  strange  radi- 
ance, his  eyes  opened  wide,  and  gazed  straight  upward  with  an 
expression  of  ineffable  joy,  surprise  and  adoration ;  and  the  beloved 
father,  pastor,  friend,  saw  and  entered  into  the  glories  which  God 
hath  prepared  for  those  who  love  Him. 

The  more  notable  events  of  Dr.  Noyes'  life,  and  the  leading 
qualities  of  his  character,  are  stated  or  suggested  in  the  various 
tributes  which  follow. 

S.  J.  McP. 

<EBc  Juncraf. 

At  eleven  o'clock  on  Thursday,  January  iyth,  after  prayer  had 
been  offered  at  the  house,  and  the  family,  with  one  pathetic 
exception,  had  taken  a  last  look  at  the  face  of  their  beloved  dead, 
the  casket  was  borne  to  the  lecture-room  of  the  church,  where  the 
body  lay  in  state.  At  the  ends  of  the  casket  were  placed  twa 
floral  pillows,  bearing  the  words  "  father"  and  "  grandpa,"  and 
resting  upon  it  were  a  wreath  of  ivy  and  a  sheaf  of  ripe  wheat.. 
The  desk  was  draped  in  white  and  covered  with  sprigs  of  ivy, 
while  the  wall,  back  of  the  desk,  hung  with  black,  bore  the  signi- 
ficant legend:  "I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth."  For  two 
hours  a  procession  of  parishioners,  friends  and  citizens  passed  in 
review  above  the  still  form,  whose  face  wore  its  habitual  expres- 
sion of  manly  gentleness  and  love. 

At  one  o'clock,  the  hour  set  for  the  funeral,  the  main  audience- 
room  of  the  church  was  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity,  while 
numbers  of  people  were  unable  to  enter.  Most  of  the  places  of 
business  in  Evanston  had  been  closed,  for  the  death  of  Dr.  Noyes 


was  regarded  as  a  public  calamity.  The  character,  no  less  than 
the  size,  of  the  audience,  bore  the  highest  testimony  to  the  esteem 
in  which  he  was  so  widely  held.  His  brother  ministers,  of  several 
Evangelical  denominations,  were  present  as  sincere  mourners. 
The  Chicago  Literary  Club's  delegation  consisted  of  all  those  who, 
like  himself,  had  occupied  its  chair.  The  Northwestern  University, 
the  Lake  Forest  University,  the  McCormick  Theological  Sem- 
inary, and  the  general  community  of  Evanston,  Chicago,  and  the 
surrounding  towns  and  cities,  were  largely  represented.  The  bier, 
the  communion  table,  the  pulpit,  and  the  choir  gallery,  back  of  the 
pulpit,  besides  being  draped,  were  profusely,  yet  most  tastefully, 
decorated  with  smilax  and  ivy,  with  callas,  lilies  of  the  valley,  car- 
nations, hyacinths  and  masses  of  roses,  sent  by  the  infant  class,  the 
Sunday  School,  the  Session,  the  Trustees,  the  congregation,  and 
numerous  other  friends  and  associates,  who  witnessed  spontaneously 
to  the  united  affection  and  gratitude  felt  by  all  classes  for  this 
unselfish,  useful  and  now  sainted  man. 

The  arrangements  at  the  church  were  in  charge  of  Mr.  George 
H.  Quinlan,  assisted  by  Messrs.  Henry  Butman,  H.  J.  Green,  F. 
B.  Carter,  Edward  H.  Quinlan,  J.  W.  Howell  and  William  P. 
Turner.  The  honorary  pall  bearers  were  Messrs.  Thomas  Lord, 
Charles  Randolph,  Ambrose  Foster,  H.  C.  Hunt,  A.  B.  Hull,  W. 
H.  Lewis,  Geo.  E.  Purington,  and  O.  L.  -Baskin;  and  the  casket 
was  carried  by  Messrs.  Henry  J.  Wallingford,  W.  E.  Stockton,  H. 
E.  C.  Daniels,  W.  B.  Topliff,J.  H.  Nitchie,  H.  B.  Cragin,  Jerome 
A.  Smith,  and  D.  S.  Cook. 

The  services  began  with  the  playing  on  the  organ  by  Mr.  H. 
D.  Atchinson,  of  Chopin's  funeral  march.  Rev.  Joseph  Cum- 
mings,  D.  D.,  President  of  the  Northwestern  University,  offered 
the  invocation.  The  choir,  consisting  of  Mrs.  A.  Weber,  Miss  I. 
M.  Wolfe,  Mr.  C.  W.  Clark  and  Mr.  E.  H.  Eddy  beautifully  sang 
"Jerusalem  the  Golden."  After  reading  the  following  Scripture 
passages,  Job  14: 1,  2;  Ps.  103: 15,  16;  i  Chron.  29: 15;  Jas.  4:  14; 

1  Thess.  4:  13;  Prov.  14:32;  Ps.  1 16:  15;  2  Cor.  5:1;  Rev.  14:  13; 

2  Cor.  5:6;    153.35:10;    Rev.  21:4;    Rev.  22:5;    Rev.  7:14-17; 
Num.  23:10,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  W.    Patterson  delivered  the 
accompanying  address  on  his  colleague  of  twenty-five  years. 

i?r.  Patterson's  £l&drc««. 

"It  is  appointed  unto  all  men  once  to  die."  This  is  the  com- 
mon lot  of  all.  And  yet  we  all  have  hope — not  the  hope  of 


escaping  death,  but  the  hope  that  after  death  we  shall  live  again. 
And  we  all  have  at  least  an  impression,  if  not  a  definite  conviction, 
that  our  present  life  will  have  an  important  connection  with  the 
character  of  our  future  life,  as  more  or  less  desirable.  We  ought> 
therefore,  to  be  especially  concerned  about  the  kind  of  life  we  are 
now  living.  When  a  friend  dies  we  cannot  help  asking,  What 
sort  of  life  has  he  lived?  both  because  we  think  of  what  he  has 
accomplished,  and  because  we  consider  the  final  consequences  of 
his  earthly  life  to  himself. 

We  are  called  together  to-day  by  the  removal  from  the  midst 
of  us  of  a  man  whose  life  it  is  a  pleasure  to  contemplate,  because 
we  know  it  was  beautiful  and  beneficent,  and  because  we  can  not 
but  regard  it  as  a  bud  that  has  already  flowered  forth  into  the 
higher  grandeur  of  an  immortal  and  glorified  life.  It  is  worth  our 
while  to  spend  a  little  time  to-day  in  reviewing  the  general  facts  in 
this  life  and  some  traits  that  were  conspicuous  in  the  character  of 
our  dearly  beloved  friend  and  brother.  For  surely  we  have  here 
an  example  and  lesson  which  it  becomes  us  to  fix  in  our  memories 
and  reproduce  in  our  lives. 

George  Clement  Noyes  was  born  in  Landaff,  N.  H.,  August 
4,  1833.  He  was  the  son  of  worthy  and  pious  parents.  His  father, 
Jacob  Noyes,  did  what  he  could  for  the  education  of  his  children, 
and  took  a  special  interest  in  the  promise  that  was  early  manifested 
in  the  fondness  of  his  son  George  for  books,  and  for  every  means 
of  mental  improvement  within  his  reach.  In  1844  the  parents 
removed  to  Perry,  Pike  County,  111.  There  the  son  attended  the 
public  schools,  and  soon  afforded  so  many  evidences  of  talent  that 
he  was  encouraged  to  make  an  effort  to  obtain  a  liberal  education. 
At  the  age  of  about  sixteen  he  became  a  Christian,  and  from  that 
time  onward  he  was  resolved  to  become  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 
On  one  occasion  some  of  his  friends  urged  him  to  turn  aside  to  the 
study  of  law,  for  which  they  thought  his  mental  traits  especially 
adapted  him.  For  a  short  time  he  wavered,  but  his  former  pur- 
pose was  renewed  with  more  determination  than  ever,  and  he 
wrote  to  a  sister  that  he  should  feel  that  a  woe  awaited  him  if  he 
did  not  preach  the  gospel.  When  nineteen  years  of  age  he  entered 
Illinois  College  at  Jacksonville,  111.,  where  he  devoted  himself 
faithfully  to  study,  deported  himself  as  an  exemplary  Christian > 
and  graduated  with  the  first  honor  of  his  class  in  1855.  In  the  fall 
of  the  same  year  he  entered  Union  Theological  Seminary,  in  the 
City  of  New  York,  \vhere  he  maintained  his  accustomed  position 
as  a  student,  and  graduated  in  1858,  highly  esteemed  by  his  pro- 


fessors  and  fellow  students.  In  the  same  year  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Ellen  Smith,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  David  A.  Smith,  of 
Jacksonville,  who  became  the  mother  of  his  six  sons  and  one 
daughter.  In  1858  he  was  ordained  and  was  installed  as  the  pastor 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Laporte,  Ind. 

He  labored  most  successfully  in  that  station  for  ten  years,  at 
the  end  of  which  time  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Evanston,  where  he  continued  his  work  till  the  end  of 
his  life,  during  a  period  of  more  than  twenty  years.  When  he 
came  to  this  church  it  consisted  of  about  thirty-eight  members. 
The  small  congregation  met  in  the  church  edifice  that  had  been 
occupied  by  the  "  Lake  Avenue  Church,"  before  that  organization 
was  divided  by  the  organization  of  the  Congregational  and  Pres- 
byterian Societies.  After  a  few  years  the  old  house  of  worship 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  congregation  was  obliged  to  worship 
in  a  hall.  But  Dr.  Noyes  encouraged  the  desponding  hearts  of  his 
people,  and  they  proceeded  at  once  to  erect  a  new  and  better  sanc- 
tuary, which,  with  additions,  is  occupied  by  the  congregation  at 
the  present  time.  The  church  and  congregation,  the  Sabbath 
school  and  prayer  meeting,  steadily  increased  in  numbers,  notwith- 
standing the  organization  of  other  churches,  especially  of  the 
South  Evanston  Presbyterian  Church,  three  or  four  years  since, 
which  was  a  colony  from  this  church.  At  the  present  time  the 
church  numbers  nearly  five  hundred  members,  a  great  proportion 
of  whom  have  come  from  the  children  of  the  church  and  the  Sab- 
bath school.  Dr.  Xoyes  has  been  instrumental  in  developing  the 
benevolence  and  activity  of  the  church,  especially  of  the  younger 
membership,  in  an  eminent  degree.  Very  few  churches  of  the 
same  means  can  render  a  better  account  of  their  benevolence;  and 
the  devotion  of  the  young  people  to  Christian  work  has  gained  in 
volume  and  power  from  year  to  year,  especially  during  the  later 
portion  of  this  history. 

The  work  of  Dr.  Noyes  has  been  by  no  means  confined  to  his 
own  church  and  congregation.  He  has  done  more,  perhaps,  within 
the  last  ten  years  than  any  one  of  his  brethren  in  his  Presbytery 
and  Synod,  in  the  department  of  Home  Missions,  having  been* 
during  most  of  this  period,  the  efficient  Chairman  of  the  Commitee 
of  Home  Missions  in  both  of  these  bodies.  Besides  his  activity  in 
these  relations,  he  has  been  an  earnest  worker  and  member  of 
several  Educational  Boards,  and  of  important  committees  of  the 
General  Assembly.  Moreover,  he  has  been  a  constant  correspond- 
ent of  the  religious  papers  of  the  church,  thus  contributing  largely 


to  the  moral  and  spiritual  influences  that  have  told  in  shaping  the 
Christian  sentiment  and  life  of  our  times.  Few  ministers  in  the 
West  have  done  as  much  within  the  last  score  of  years  for  the 
Christian  cause  as  our  brother  who  has  just  laid  down  his  armor. 
Let  us  notice  a  few  points  in  his  admirable  character: 
First.  He  possessed  a  special  aptitude  for  study  and  acquisition 
in  various  directions.  He  was  a  good  linguist,  particularly  in 
Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew.  His  attainments  in  general  literature 
were  widely  extended,  especially  in  poetry  and  miscellany.  Last 
year  he  was  President  of  the  Literary  Society  of  Chicago.  He 
was  well  versed  in  natural  sciences  for  one  devoted  to  the  minis- 
terial and  pastoral  work.  His  historical  knowledge  was  by  no 
means  limited.  As  a  musician  he  occupied  a  good  position,  and 
was  an  associate  member  of  some  of  the  best  musical  societies. 
As  a  philosopher  he  was  highly  respectable.  As  a  theologian  he 
ranked  among  the  learned  and  independent  thinkers.  And  if  he 
was  not  distinguished  as  a  Biblical  exegete,  it  was  more  for  lack  of 
time  than  for  the  want  of  excellent  ability.  Many  a  man  bearing 
numerous  literary  and  scientific  titles  has  ranked  below  our  brother 
as  a  general  scholar,  reader,  and  investigator. 

Second.  Dr.  Noyes  was  broad  and  generous  in  his  culture  and 
sympathies.  While  decided  and  positive  in  his  opinions  and  con- 
victions, he  was  tolerant  of  those  who  differed  widely  from  him  in 
regard  to  important  questions,  so  long  as  they  appeared  sincere  and 
free  from  narrowness  and  bigotry,  although  he  was  impatient  of 
assumption  and  pretense  of  moral  or  religious  superiority.  I  have 
often  found  him  commending  the  honesty  of  purpose  of  those 
from  whose  positions  on  moral  questions  he  earnestly  dissented. 
And  he  was  charitable  towards  brethren  of  religious  denominations 
far  removed  from  his  own  chosen  church.  He  was  willing  to 
listen  to  overtures  for  Christian  union  from  quarters  that  seemed 
to  some  of  his  brethren  to  savor  of  arrogance  and  lordly  claims, 
deserving  only  of  contemptuous  rejection,  all  proceeding  from  the 
goodness  of  his  heart  and  from  his  earnest  desire  to  see  the  barriers 
to  brotherly  fellowship  broken  down  at  almost  any  cost.  He 
would  hasten  to  the  rescue  of  a  persecuted  man,  even  when  he 
might  seem  in  important  respects  out  of  the  way.  And  this  he 
did  in  some  cases  to  his  own  personal  disadvantage.  But  never 
would  he  sacrifice  what  he  deemed  essential  truth  to  help  the  cause 
of  a  friend.  lie  was  neither  a  bigot  nor  a  latitudinarian — neither 
a  blind  supporter  of  tradition  or  stereotyped  creed,  nor  an  impul- 
sive advocate  of  innovations  in  doctrine  just  because  they  were 


new.  He  well  understood  how  much  easier  it  is  to  pull  down  than 
to  build  up — how  much  less  force  it  takes  to  hurl  a  wefght  down 
a  precipice  than  to  bring  one  up  from  below. 

Third.  Dr.  Noyes,  as  a  preacher,  was  practical,  clear,  instructive, 
earnest,  and  impressive.  In  delivery  he  was  vigorous  and  forcible. 
His  style  was  pure  and  varied,  abounding  in  allusion  and  illustra- 
tion. His  diction  was  usually  Saxon,  and  his  English  undefiled. 
His  themes  of  discourse  often  pertained  to  current  events,  though 
always  Biblical  and  Evangelical.  His  texts  were  very  frequently 
taken  from  the  Old  Testament,  and  from  passages  that  afforded 
material  for  continued  analogy  or  illustration  throughout  the  ser- 
mon. He  seldom  indulged  in  criticisms  on  the  original  texts,  but 
often  referred  to  the  revised  version  of  the  Scripture.  More  of 
Biblical  exposition  would  have  interested  some  of  his  hearers,  but 
would  have  been  tedious  to  others.  As  a  whole,  few  preachers 
better  hold  the  attention  of  their  congregations,  and  few  turn  their 
discourses  to  as  good  practical  account.  In  this  respect  he  was  a 
workman  that  had  no  need  to  be  ashamed. 

Fourth.  As  a  pastor  and  organizer,  Dr.  Noyes  was  eminently 
successful.  He  was  industrious,  active,  faithful  in  visitation,  and 
especially  kind  and  sympathetic  in  his  attentions  to  the  sick  and 
the  sorrowful,  while  he  was  unremitting  in  his  efforts  to  reclaim 
the  wandering  and  to  strengthen  the  tempted.  I  have  often  won- 
dered how  he  could  find  time  to  make  so  many  calls,  and  how  he 
could  keep  himself  so  closely  acquainted  with  the  conditions  and 
wants  of  his  people. 

He  was  uniformly  present,  when  at  home,  in  the  church  prayer 
meeting,  and  commonly  in  the  Sabbath  school  also.  And  by  his 
warm  appeals  in  the  Conference  Meetings,  he  was  the  means  of 
keeping  alive  the  spirit  of  social  religion  among  his  people  in  an 
unusual  degree.  I  do  not  know  another  pastor  who  keeps  his 
membership  better  organized  for  Christian  work,  or  who  draws 
the  children  and  youth  of  his  congregation  more  closely  to  himself. 
Beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  charge,  scores  of  families  and  multi- 
tudes of  young  people  are  afflicted  to-day  by  this  unexpected 
bereavement  of  our  whole  community. 

Fifth.  Dr.  Noyes  was  deeply  interested  in  works  of  general 
philanthropy  and  Christian  benevolence.  He  was  a  decided  and 
practical  temperance  man,  though  not  in  sympathy  with  political 
and  partisan  efforts  for  this  object,  which  he  believed  to  be  rather 
hurtful  than  helpful  to  the  cause.  He  was  an  ardent  friend  of 
human  liberty,  and  could  not  abide  the  spirit  of  caste,  whether  in 


state  or  church.  For  this  reason  he  was  resolutely  opposed  to 
every  movement  that  looked  toward  the  drawing  of  the  color 
line  in  our  ecclesiastical  bodies  of  the  South.  He  was  an  earnest 
supporter  of  Christian  education,  while  he  recognized  the  difficul- 
ties that  surround  the  question  in  regard  to  the  instructions  in  the 
public  schools.  The  cause  of  evangelization  everywhere  was  dear 
to  his  heart.  No  minister  in  the  church  was  more  zealous  for  the 
elevation  and  conversion  of  all  classes  of  men  in  Christian  and 
heathen  lands.  And  on  this  ground  he  was  earnestly  devoted  to 
what  he  deemed  the  best  political  policies  for  this  and  other  coun- 
tries. 

Sixth.  I  hardly  need  say  to  any  one  who  knew  Dr.  Noyes, 
that  he  was  a  Christian  gentleman.  He  was  a  gentleman  by  high 
instincts  and  on  Christian  principles — courteous,  genial,  affable, 
"full  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness."  He  was  faithful  and  true 
in  the  domestic  relations,  in  personal  friendships,  in  the  social  con- 
nections. I  need  not  speak  of  his  beautiful  fidelity  in  duties  at 
home,  of  his  genuineness  and  trustworthiness  as  a  friend,  of  his 
high  social  qualities,  all  of  which  are  well  known  and  so  univer- 
sally recognized  among  us.  But  I  may  refer  to  his  suavity  and 
quiet  humor,  which  made  his  presence  agreeable,  even  delightful, 
in  social  circles,  families,  and  private  intercourse.  It  was  a  pleasure 
to  meet  him,  a  privilege  to  enjoy  his  company.  And  it  was  always 
a  saving  clause  that,  while  liberal  in  according  to  others  their 
rights  of  opinion,  and  passing  over  differences  with  some  graceful 
pleasantry,  he  never  gave  even  implied  sanction  to  false  or  demoral- 
izing principles, 

I  will  only  add  that  Dr.  Noyes'  Christian  faith  was  established 
and  unswerving  to  the  end.  He  was  a  steadfast  believer  in  the 
truth  of  the  gospel,  and  his  personal  trust  in  Christ  stood  him  in 
stead  through  sore  trials  that  would  have  made  many  a  heart  per- 
petually sad,  enabled  him  to  be  courageous  and  cheerful  through 
all  sorrows,  and  sustained  him  in  persevering  work  and  hope  to 
the  final  hour.  He  lived  to  see  his  large  family  well  educated  and 
all  in  the  fellowship  of  the  church.  In  seasons  of  failing  health 
within  two  or  three  years,  which  gave  to  others  if  not  to  him, 
premonitions  of  the  event  which  has  now  occurred,  he  bravely 
waited  for  his  Master's  will.  And  in  his  last  sickness,  while  he 
was  enjoined  to  keep  entirely  quiet,  he  expressed  both  hope  and 
submission  with  a  cheerful  countenance.  On  the  first  Sabbath 
after  the  beginning  of  his  fatal  illness  he  was  so  anxious  to  be  in 
his  pulpit  that  he  came  to  the  church,  and  though  unable  to  con- 

8 


duct  any  of  the  devotional  services  himself,  he  delivered  portions 
of  his  sermon,  after  which  he  hastened  home  and  took  to  his  bed, 
not  again  to  rise  from  it. 

On  the  second  Sabbath  he  sent  to  his  people,  through  Dr. 
Ridgaway,  who  officiated  in  his  pulpit,  the  following  message  : 
"  Tell  my  people  that  I  have  been  deeply  touched  by  their  kind- 
ness during  this  sickness.  Their  visits,  messages,  find  loving 
remembrances  have  never  been  more  constant  or  more  grateful. 
Tell  them,  too,  that  I  know  they  are  praying  for  me,  and  that  I 
feel  their  prayers  are  heard,  and  that  I  am  greatly  sustained.  I 
wish,  also,  that  you  (Dr.  Ridgaway)  would  announce  the  week  of 
prayer.  It  will  go  on  all  the  same  as  if  I  could  be  there.  Say  to 
the  congregation  I  wish  them  to  come  out.  This  is  the  first  time 
I  have  ever  had  to  miss  being  personally  present  with  them  at  this 
interesting  season;  and  I  hope  they  will  attend  all  the  same  as  if  I 
were  with  them." 

Dr.  Ridgaway  adds:  "  Such,  substantially,  were  the  messages 
sent  by  Dr.  Noyes,  by  me,  to  his  congregation  January  6th  last. 
The  words  only  faintly  indicate  the  spirit  with  which  he  spoke 
them.  There  was  a  tenderness  and  fervor  in  his  whole  expression, 
which  showed  the  sincere  yearnings  of  a  loving  pastor's  heart  for 
his  people." 

He  was  conscious  till  the  hand  of  death  was  visibly  upon  him- 
Near  the  close,  when  he  was  no  longer  able  to  speak,  he  signified 
his  wish  that  all  about  him  should  pray.  One  of  the  family 
repeated  the  Lord's  prayer,  and  in  a  short  time  all  was  over.  On 
the  I4th  day  of  January,  at  3.08  o'clock,  the  spirit  took  its  flight 
to  the  Savior's  bosom.  I  was  summoned  to  be  present,  but  not 
having  heard  of  the  alarming  change,  had  gone  to  the  city  where 
the  message  found  me  only  in  time  to  enable  me  to  reach  the 
house  a  few  minutes  after  the  closing  scenes.  Two  days  ago  on 
looking  for  the  first  time  on  the  cold  but  still  expressive  remains, 
the  stanza  of  Charles  Wesley  was  forcibly  recalled: 

"  How  blest  is  our  brother,  bereft  of  all  that  could  burden  his  mind; 
How  easy  the  soul  that  has  left  this  wearisome  body  behind." 

"  Mark  the  perfect  man  :  and  behold  the  upright,  for  the  end  of  that  man  is 
peace,  peace." 

Let  us  follow  our  brother  as  he  followed  Christ.  We  need 
such  examples  near  us  now — examples  of  those  whom  we  have 
known  and  loved,  to  stimulate  and  quicken  us  in  our  upward  race. 
Let  us  all  try  to  leave  a  similar  record  behind  us,  not  merely  for  our 


own  honor,  but   as  a  legacy  for  the  enduring  profit  of  those  that 
remain,  and  of  the  generations  that  are  to  follow  us. 

A  day  or  two  after  Dr.  Noyes'  death  the  following  beautiful 
little  poem,  cut  from  some  paper,  was  found  on  his  study  table: 

IF  I  SHOULD  DIE  TO-NIGHT. 

If  I  should  die  to-night, 
My  friends  would  look  upon  my  quiet  face 
Before  they  laid  it  in  its  resting  place, 
And  deem  that  death  had  left  it  almost  fair  ; 
And  laying  snow-white  flowers  against  my  hair, 
Would  smooth  it  down  with  tearful  tenderness, 
And  fold  my  hands  with  lingering  caress — 

Poor  hands,  so  empty  and  so  cold  to-night ! 

If  I  should  die  to-night, 

My  friends  would  call  to  mind  with  loving  thought 
Some  kindly  deeds  the  icy  hands  had  wrought, 
Some  gentle  word  the  frozen  lips  had  said, 
Errands  on  which  the  willing  feet  had  sped  ; 
The  memory  of  my  selfishness  and  pride, 
My  hasty  words  would  all  be  put  aside  ; 

And  so  I  should  be  loved  and  mourned  to-night  ! 

If  I  should  die  to-night, 

E'en  hearts  estranged  would  turn  once  more  to  me, 
Recalling  other  days  remorsefully  ; 
The  eyes  that  chill  me  with  averted  glance 
Would  look  upon  me  as  of  yore  perchance, 
And  soften  in  the  old  familiar  way 
(For  who  could  war  with  dumb,  unconscious  clay  ?) 
So  I  might  rest  forgiven  of  all  to-night  ! 

O  friends,  I  pray  to-night 
Keep  not  your  kisses  for  my  dead,  cold  brow  ; 
The  way  is  lonely,  let  me  feel  them  now. 
Think  gently  of  me  ;  I  am  travel-worn  ; 
My  faltering  feet  are  pierced  with  many  a  thorn. 
Forgive,  O  hearts  estranged,  forgive,  I  plead  ! 
When  dreamless  rest  is  mine,  I  shall  not  need 
The  tenderness  for  which  I  long  to-night ! 

At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Patterson's  address,  the  choir  sang 
"  Lead,  Kindly  Light."  Thereupon  the  Moderator  of  the  Presby- 
tery, the  Rev.  M.  Woolsey  Stryker,  pastor  of  the  Fourth  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Chicago,  expressed  the  deep  sympathy  of  a 
congregation,  to  many  of  whom  individually,  and  to  all  of  whom 
collectively,  Dr.  Noyes  had  been  greatly  endeared.  As  the 
Moderator  for  the  current  year  of  the  Presbytery  of  Chicago,  he 

10 


voiced  what  all  his  fellow  ministers  had  in  their  hearts — that 
among  that  body  of  strong  men,  none  was  stronger,  none  gentler, 
none  more  winning  and  more  wise  than  he  who  had  gone 
from  his  painstaking  and  manifold  labors  to  his  assured  reward. 
In  all  matters  of  action  or  of  deliberation  his  personal  weight  of 
judgment  and  his  readiness  to  bear  full  part  had  been  constant  and 
eminent.  For  twenty  years  Dr.  Noyes  had  gone  on  his  steadfast 
way,  a  leader  in  counsels  and  activities,  which  had  gone  into  the 
Christian  history  of  this  immediate  region,  and  of  the  whole 
Northwest. 

He  had  wrought  to  the  last,  and  fallen  in  the  very  traces.  With 
his  own  great  trials  it  was  still  his  joy  to  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ 
in  bearing  others'  burdens,  and  widely  he  did  it.  The  flowers  scat- 
tered about  were  not  more  fragrant  nor  more  penetratingly  beau- 
tiful than  had  been  his  admonitions  of  hopefulness  and  fidelity. 
To  those  who  had  listened  and  worshipped  in  that  church  the 
very  walls  would  seem  to  have  imperishable  tongues.  Those 
whom  he  had  so  often  sought  to  lead  to  Christ  were  urged,  by  this 
last  mute  appeal  of  a  life  finished  in  the  ways  of  God,  to  remember 
all  Dr.  Noyes  had  urged,  and  to  follow  him  as  he  had  followed 
the  Only  Redeemer.  His  blessed  example  is  his  abiding  and 
infrustable  legacy.  His  frank  eyes  and  kindly  look — almost  a 
benediction;  we  who  have  seen  and  felt  them  will  never  lose.  He 
had  not  far  to  go  !  He  is  not  gone  from  us  for  very  long.  Soon 
then,  will  be  "  raptured  greetings,  and  knitting  severed  friendships, 
up  where  partings  are  no  more."  Courage,  and  on  !  Mr.  Stryker 
concluded  with  these  lines: 

A  voice  is  heard  on  Earth  of  kinsfolk  weeping 

The  loss  of  one  they  love  ; 
But  he  is  gone  where  the  redeemed  are  keeping 

Their  festival  above. 

The  mourners  throng  the  way,  and  from  the  steeple 

The  funeral  bell  tolls  slow  ; 
But  on  the  golden  streets  the  holy  people 

Are  passing  to  and  fro. 

And  saying  as  they  meet,  "  Rejoice  !  another, 

Long  waited  for,  is  come." 
The  Saviour's  heart  is  glad  ;  a  younger  brother 

Hath  reached  the  Father's  home. 

As  he  finished  his  remarks  Mr.  Stryker  led  the  congregation 
in  repeating  the  Twenty-third  Psalm.  "  In  Heavenly  Love 
Abiding"  was  sung  by  the  choir.  The  Rev.  Simon  J.  McPherson, 

1 1 


D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church,  Chicago,  led  in  prayer,  clos- 
ing with  the  Lord's  prayer,  in  which  the  congregation  joined 
aloud.  After  the  choir  had  chanted  the  Twenty-third  Psalm,  the 
affecting  service  closed  with  the  benediction,  pronounced  by  the 
Rev.  William  Smith,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  South 
Evanston. 

The  burial,  witnessed  only  by  the  family  and  immediate  friends 
was  at  Rosehill  cemetery.  With  the  brief  service  at  the  grave 
conducted  by  Dr.  Patterson,  the  sad  ceremonies  of  the  day  ended 

Pinion  fficmoria?  £et&k& 

On  Sabbath  afternoon,  January  27th,  a  union  service  in  memory 
of  Dr.  Noyes  was  held  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Evanston.  Fully  one  thousand  people,  from  all  the  churches  of 
the  place,  gathered  in  honor  of  the  Christian  gentleman  and  min- 
ister, who  had  been  everybody's  friend  and  counselor.  On  the 
platform  were  the  Rev.  Dr.  Patterson,  who  conducted  the  services, 
the  Rev.  S.  F.  Jones,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Church,  the 
Rev.  N.  H.  Whittlesey,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church,  the 
Rev.  William  Smith,  pastor  of  the  South  Evanston  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Barrows,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  Chicago.  In  the  body  of  the  church 
were  many  other  clergymen  and  the  professors  of  the  University. 

The  services  began  with  the  singing  of  "  Rock  of  Ages"  by 
the  choir  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which  Dr.  Noyes  had 
served.  The  Rev.  William  Smith  offered  prayer.  Dr.  Patterson 
read  the  Ninetieth  Psalm.  Mrs.  W.  C.  Wyman  sang,  "Forever 
with  the  Lord."  Then  came  the  principal 

^Iddrcss  Bp  Dr.  Barrows. 

The  wreath  of  eulogy  and  love  which  has  been  placed  on  the 
grave  of  cur  departed  friend  is  richer  with  flowers  and  more 
fragrant  with  affection  than  that  which  is  often  laid  on  the  sep- 
ulchre of  the  dead.  I  have  listened  to  the  just  and  admirable 
words  that  have  been  spoken.  I  have  read  in  the  secular  and 
Christian  journals  the  true  and  affectionate  tributes  which  have 
come  from  the  hearts  of  those  who  called  him  friend,  and  believed 
him  to  be  the  friend  of  humanity.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
it  was  said  that  mankind  felt  that  it  had  lost  in  him  a  brother. 
Such  was  the  feeling  of  all  those  whose  lives  had  been  touched  by 
the  gracious  Christian  manhood  whose  virtues  we  commemorate 

12 


to-day.  I  know  how  large  a  place  he  had  in  the  hearts  of  this 
community,  of  which  he  was  so  justly  proud.  I  have  likewise 
read  the  numerous  resolutions  of  respect  and  sympathy  that 
have  come  from  such  varied  sources,  which  indeed  show  that 
our  brother,  as  one  has  said,  approximated  to  that  ideal  American 
clergyman  for  whom  we  are  waiting.  So  many  admirable  tributes 
have  been  spoken,  so  many  just  words  have  been  written,  and  so 
significant  and  beautiful  is  this  scene  to-day,  a  whole  community 
gathered  in  the  church  of  a  sister  denomination  to  testify  *heir 
appreciation  of  a  Christian  character  which  transcended  all  denom- 
inational lines  and  flowed  out  in  blessings  over  the  world,  that  it 
would  seem  sufficient,  if,  at  this  memorial  service,  I  should  simply 
say:  "I  loved  him  and  trusted  him  as  a  friend;  I  revered  him  as  a 
Christian;  the  earthly  life  is  lonelier  without  him,  and  the  heavenly 
life  is  brighter  since  he  entered  into  it." 

Many  of  you  have  known  him  for  twenty  years.  I  have  known 
him  for  only  seven,  and  my  intimacy  with  him  dates  from  that 
happy  summer  of  1885,  when  I  made  a  temporary  home  in  your 
beautiful  village,  now  doubly  dear  to  me  as  the  scene  of  such  a  life 
as  his. 

"  The  path  by  which  we  twain  did  go, 
Which  led  by  tracts  that  pleased  us  well, 
Through  four  sweet  years  arose  and  fell  ; 
From  flower  to  flower,  from  snow  to  snow, 
But  where  the  path  we  walked  began 
To  slant  the  fifth  autumnal  slope, 
As  we  descended,  following  hope 
There  sat  the  shadow,  feared  of  man, 
Who  broke  our  fair  companionship, 
And  spread  his  mantle  dark  and  cold, 
And  wrapped  thee,  formless,  in  the  fold, 
And  dulled  the  murmur  on  thy  lip 
And  bore  thee  where  I  could  not  see, 
Nor  follow,  though  I  walk  in  haste, 
And  think  that  somewhere  in  the  waste 
•       The  shadow  sits  and  waits  for  me." 

Sometimes  men  bearing  the  name  of  Christian  are  taken  from 
our  sight,  and  we  are  glad  that  the  great  transformation  in  their 
characters,  which  may  be  needed  in  order  that  they  may  enjoy  the 
fellowship  of  heaven,  is  sure  to  be  wrought  through  the  mercy  and 
might  of  that  Savior  in  whom  they  have  trusted.  We  dwell 
pensively  on  the  words  "  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect." 
But  when  our  brother  was  taken  from  us  it  seemed  that  no  change 
was  required  in  order  that  he  might  be  fitted  for  the  fellowship  of 

'3 


immortality.  His  heart  had  long  been  in  heaven.  He  had  much 
treasure  laid  up  there.  There  was  the  Divine  Friend  whose  word 
he  had  preached  for  thirty  yenrs,  and  by  whose  sustaining  grace, 
adequate  to  every  need,  his  sorrow  had  been  comforted.  There, 
too,  were  many  whom  he  had  known  and  loved  on  earth,  and  the 
great  throng  of  God's  saints  with  whose  toils  and  triumphs  he  had 
been  familiar. 

I  have  known  men  of  large  business  and  political  prominence, 
who  have  been  laid  in  their  graves  with  much  ceremonial  honor^ 
whose  death  was  no  loss  to  the  community.  Some  of  them  had 
been  possessed  of  fortunes  which  make  Dr.  Noyes  seem  a  poor 
man.  But  he  was  so  rich  in  friendship  and  in  service  that  beside 
him  these  other  men  often  appear  as  paupers.  As  I  looked  with 
you  upon  that  scene,  never  to  be  forgotten  in  the  church  of  which 
he  was  pastor,  where  such  a  throng  of  sincere  mourners  gathered 
on  his  funeral  day,  including  so  many  men  distinguished  in  many 
paths  of  life,  I  said  to  myself,  "  If  this  had  been  an  emperor, 
the  flowers  could  not  have  been  more  beautiful  ;  if  this  had  been  a 
statesman,  the  tributes  could  not  have  been  more  reverent  ;  if  this 
had  been  a  millionaire,  the  falling  tears  might  not  have  been  half 
so  abundant." 

But  it  appears  almost  ungracious  to  say  anything  more  of  him 
than  that  we  loved  him.  Why  study  and  analyze  his  qualities  ? 
We  knew  him;  that  was  enough.  WTe  have  felt  the  touch  of  that 
kindly  hand.  We  have  been  blessed  by  that  gracious  smile,  and 
joined  with  him  in  hearty  merriment.  We  have  felt,  if  we  could 
not  analyze,  the  beauty  of  that  symmetrical  and  balanced  character, 
where  .wisdom  was  married  to  affection,  and  gentleness  walked 
hand  in  hand  with  sagacity,  and  service  glorified  all.  He  is  so 
near  to  us  still,  that  we  should  scarcely  be  surprised  to  see  him 
entering  our  houses  once  more  and  frolicking  with  our  children  in 
the  old  beautiful  fashion.  Why  come  together  again  to-day  in 
such  a  great  throng  ? 

"  On  all  our  future  laurels  he  looks  down,  himself  our  bravest  crown." 

It  is  because  we  feel  that  the  treasure  of  his  manhood  was  so 
rich  and  precious  that  in  order  to  do  justice  to  our  convictions  we 
must  tell  each  other,  and  tell  all  men  wherein  true  greatness  lies. 
I  think  that  most  of  us  have  had  a  new  sense  of  Dr.  Noyes'  worth 
since  we  have  felt  how  sore  is  his  loss.  Landor  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  Pericles  these  words :  "  We  become  greater  by  leaving 
the  world,  as  the  sun  appears  to  be  on  descending  below  the 

"4 


horizon."  But  more  significant  are  the  words  attributed  to  Soph- 
ocles: "  It  is  folly  to  say  Death  levels  the  whole  human  race,  for  it 
is  only  when  he  has  stripped  men  of  everything  external  that  their 
deformities  can  be  clearly  discovered,  or  their  worth  correctly 
ascertained."  When  our  sorrowing  meditations  have  shown  that 
a  man  is  equal  to  the  highest  standards,  then  we  measure  him 
aright.  We  well  know  what  Dr.  Noyes  did  in  the  world,  how 
faithfully  and  laboriously  he  toiled  along  many  lines  of  effort  as 
preacher,  writer,  counselor,  and  builder  of  churches  ;  what  large 
knowledge  he  acquired,  what  success  he  achieved  during  the  thirty 
years  in  which  he  preached  the  gospel  of  Christ.  And  yet  it  was 
true  of  him,  as  was  said  of  Professor  Albert  Hopkins,  of  Williams 
College,  revered  by  so  many  graduates  of  that  institution  as  the 
saintliest  man  they  ever  knew:  "He  was  more  remarkable  for 
what  he  was  than  for  what  he  did."  If  to  be  one  hour  in  the 
company  of  Agassiz,  were,  as  a  friend  wrote  of  him,  "  to  gain  the 
strongest  argument  for  the  immortality  of  the  soul,"  it  was  true  of 
Dr.  Noyes,  that  to  be  one  hour  in  his  company  was  to  gain  a  new 
and  assured  evidence  of  Christianity.  Among  those  with  whom 
our  friend  associated  might  be  found  more  learned  theologians, 
more  popular  orators,  and  equally  efficient  organizers.  But  it  is 
the  general  judgment  that  in  no  one  else  was  found  a  higher 
Christian  character  or  a  general  excellence  that  will  be  missed  in 
so  many  spheres.  When  we  heard  of  his  death  the  feeling  was, 
not  that  so  much  learning  or  ability  had  passed  away  from  us,  as 
that  so  much  goodness  had  gone  out  of  the  earth.  The  race  does 
not  seem  rich  enough  to  spare  such  souls  as  his,  a  man  in  whom 
such  different  kinds  of  men  with  varying  beliefs  equally  found  a 
brother.  Dr.  Schaff  has  written  "  that  a  Christ-like  theology  and 
ministry  is  the  first  and  last  necessity  of  the  church  and  the  world." 
Such  a  ministry  has  for  twenty  years  thrown  its  blessings  over  this 
community,  and  you  are  grateful  to  God  that  your  children  have 
seen  his  form,  like  that  of  Elisha,  "  as  a  holy  man  of  God  passing 
by  continually."  Dr.  Noyes'  loving  heart  made  him  see  deeply 
into  the  soul  of  the  gospel,  and  he  had  that  wisdom  which  John 
Wesley  learned  from  an  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  taught 
him  that  "to  be  eminently  useful  a  Christian  must  not  waste  his 
strength  in  fighting  for  or  against  things  disputable  or  secondary, 
but  must  use  it  in  testifying  against  notorious  vice  and  promoting 
essential  holiness."  You  know  better  than  I  that  this  successful 
ministry  which  built  up  so  strong  a  church,  which  won  the  respect 
of  strong  men,  and  which  carried  blessings  to  old  and  young,  and 

'5 


grew  more  fruitful  with  the  years,  was  centered  in  a  gospel  which 
was  always  practical  and  helpful,  which  did  not  waste  its  strength 
in  magnifying  unessentials,  but  which  glowed  with  the  love  of 
God  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  was  urgent  that  men  should  turn  from 
all  known  sin,  accept  the  offers  of  redeeming  love,  and  be  faithful 
and  fruitful  in  good  works. 

Dr.  Noyes  did  not  bow  down  as  an  idolater  before  any  system 
of  theology.  He  was  a  careful  and  reverent  student  of  the  past, 
but  his  face  was  turned  toward  the  future.  He  always  expected 
better  things  in  life  and  doctrine.  And  yet  he  was  the  farthest 
possible  from  being  a  rash  innovator.  A  judicious  friend  has 
written  that  it  is  hard  to  decide  "  whether  he  was  a  radical  or  a 
conservative."  In  a  letter  sent  shortly  after  his  inaugural  address 
before  the  Chicago  Literary  Club,  he  wrote:  "  I  believe  strongly 
in  progress,  but  when  some  doctrine  has  been  put  forth  which  has 
been  tried  a  thousand  times  under  somewhat  changed  conditions, 
or  when  some  theory  is  broached  which  stamps  as  utter  folly  or 
wrong  all  the  world's  wisdom  and  all  established  methods  of  deal- 
ing, then  I  am  sure  that  progress  does  not  lie  in  the  direction  in 
which  that  doctrine  or  theory  points."  We  surely  know  that  his 
heart  was  profoundly  loyal  to  Jesus  Christ  as  a  divine  savior,  and 
that  his  mind  was  profoundly  convinced  that  the  Bible  is  a  divine 
revelation,  that  he  felt  that  men  need  first  of  all  the  regenerating 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  working  through  the  truth,  and  that  the 
hope  of  the  world  is  the  knowledge  and  acceptance  of  the  Christian 
gospel.  He  had  a  great  affection  for  the  churches.  He  looked 
upon  all  of  them  as  belonging  to  him  because  he  belonged  in  spirit 
to  them.  He  was  widely  loved  by  ministers  and  laymen  of  all 
denominations.  I  have  been  greatly  struck  by  words  spoken  to 
me  by  men  far  removed  from  Dr.  Noyes  in  theological  belief.  An 
able  lawyer  in  Chicago,  himself  a  Unitarian,  said:  "I  always 
admired  him  because  he  was  so  fair  minded."  Another  lawyer  of 
the  same  belief  said  of  him :  "  I  never  could  discover  in  him  any 
particle  of  cant.  He  seemed  utterly  sincere  and  unpretentious." 
With  Dr.  Noyes  orthodoxy  was  never  different  from  the  truth, 
and  by  heresy  he  meant  nothing  but  error. 

But  why  was  he  so  beloved  ?  I  think  because  there  was  so 
much  of  human  nature  in  him.  I  mean  human  nature  at  its  best, 
when  renewed  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  This  same  tribute  was  paid 
to  Dean  Stanley,  and  is  just  in  both  cases.  Think  of  the  things 
which  this  man  loved,  and  thus  see  what  I  mean.  He  loved  praise, 
and  he  loved  to  give  it  in  a  quiet,  indirect,  and  modest  way.  It 

16 


was  very  pleasant  for  his  friends  to -cheer  this  man's  heart,  which 
carried  such  a  crushing  load  of  sorrow,  hy  telling  him  through 
looks,  and  words,  and  kindly  deeds  how  dearto-them  he  was.  He 
loved  his  friends,  and  had  a  genius  for  friendship.  He  certainly 
was  the  magnetic  center  of  this  Presbytery  to  which  all  his  breth- 
ren, young  and  old,  from  the  venerable  Dr.  Patterson  to  the  newest 
comer  among  us,  were  strongly  attracted.  He  loved  books,  and  a 
great  variety  of  books.  He  loved  music,  he  loved  poetry,  especi- 
ally that  which  brought  him  into  communion  with  his  Savior.  One 
of  his  latest  discourses  was  on  the  hymns  of  Charles  Wesley.  He 
loved  nature,  and  had  a  keen  eye  for  her  beauty  and  a  noble  mind 
to  respond  to  her  wonders.  He  loved  his  people,  and  was  proud 
of  them.  He  loved  his  work,  fcis  brethren,  his  country  and  all 
mankind.  He  loved  his  family  with  a  satisfied  affection,-  and  was 
beloved  and  honored  by  them  as  few  men  ever  are.  He  loved  to 
write  and  to  preach.  The  amount  of  committee  work  he  could  do 
was  to  me  appalling.  He  had  a  genius  for  conference,  for  counsel. 
On  his  non-Episcopal  shoulders  came  the  care  of  all  our  churches. 
He  loved  to  confide  in  his  intimate  friends,  and  shared  more  con- 
fidences than  almost  any  other  man  that  I  have  ever  known.  He 
loved  to  talk  about  his  work,  his  perplexities,  his  successes.  He 
loved  every  form  of  wholesome  humor,  was  quick,  though  never 
resentful,  in  repartee.  He  saw  the  weak  side  of  human  nature 
without  cynicism.  When  in  Mexico  he  bought  a  box  of  straw- 
berries, and  the  basket  proved  to  be  two-thirds  filled  with  leaves; 
he  wrote  to  me,  doubtless  with  a  smile  on  his  face  :  u  This  proves 
that  human  nature  is  much  the  same  in  Mexico  and  in  South 
Water  Street,  Chicago."  And  Dr.  Noyes  loved  debate.  He  had 
a  great  faculty  for  prompt  and  vigorous  expression,  and  on  reading 
the  other  day  his  argument  in  the  famous  trial  of  Professor  Swing, 
I  felt  that  he  would  have  made  a  successful  and  eminent  lawyer. 
But  few  men  who  have  such  profound  convictions  and  such  faculty 
for  facile  and  vigorous  utterance  have  been  so  uniformly  kindly  in 
tone.  Since  Dr.  Noyes'  death  some  of  us  have  read  a  characteristic 
article  which  he  wrote  for  the  Advance,  on  "  The  Sunday  News- 
paper ;  An  Expostulation."  I  know  of  no  fairer  argument,  nor 
one  more  conclusive  against  the  taking  and  reading  by  Christians 
of  the  Sunday  journal.  It  is  a  dispassionate  appeal,  which,  if 
heeded,  would  add  immensely  to  the  spiritual  life  of  America. 
And  though  his  heart  is  evidently  boiling  hot,  how  carefully,  how 
judiciously,  how  tolerantly,  and  hence  how  strongly  the  argument 
is  carried  on.  He  never  turned  an  opponent  into  an  enemy. 

'7 


I  should  do  injustice  to  his  memory  if  I  did  not  at  least  mention 
that  his  childlike  heart  made  him  the  great  friend  of  children.  In 
looking  over  his  letters  I  notice  that  he  remembered  my  children's 
birthdays.  One  of  my  little  boys,  learning  that  Rev.  Dr.  Blank 
had  called,  and  mistaking  the  name,  went  in  to  see  him,  but  he 
came  out,  and  going  to  his  mother  said,  bursting  into  tears,  "  I 
thought  it  was  Dr.  Noyes."  I  have  not  been  surprised  to  learn 
that  one  of  the  children  of  his  flock  has  expressed  her  sorrow  that 
she  did  not  unite  with  the  church  while  Dr.  Noyes  was  yet  living, 
nor  that  another,  a  child  of  five  years,  was  heard  to  offer  this 
prayer:  "  Grant,  O  Lord,  that  when  I  die  and  go  to  heaven  I  may 
meet  Dr.  Noyes  very  soon."  Surely  we  may  learn  that  a  great 
heart  is  the  chief  jewel  of  characfer.  This  man,  with  his  large  and 
penetrating  intelligence,  with  his  strong  convictions  and  his  keen 
sensibility  to  the  defects  of  others,  would  allow  nothing  to  over- 
come his  love.  Writing  of  a  somewhat  disagreeable  good  man, 
Dr.  Noyes  said:  "  With  all  his  faults,  I  love  him  still."  That  love 
seemed  invincible.  It  was  fed  by  the  love  of  God. 

I  would  not  have  you  think  his  great  qualities  were  all  natural. 
With  his  generous  native  endowments  there  was  superadded  what 
only  God  could  give  through  his  grace  and  spirit,  patience,  cheer- 
fulness under  suffering,  serenity  after  deferred  hope,  continued 
loving-kindness,  wide  toleration.  These  are  not  natural  graces  to 
a  strong  and  earnest  man,  but  these  Dr.  Noyes  had  abundantly, 
and  none  that  knew  him  doubted  whence  they  came.  In  the  midst 
of  sorrow  he  would  not  forget  God's  former  mercies.  In  a  birth- 
day letter  he  once  wrote:  "It  is  well  to  send  the  thoughts  back 
over  the  past  so  as  distinctly  to  mark  the  points  at  which  heaven's 
gifts  were  most  abundant  and  rich."  His  symmetrical  and  ripened 
Christian  character,  with  so  much  of  usefulness,  with  so  much  of 
faith,  and  so  much  of  joy,  even — though  it  seems  strange  to  speak 
of  joy  in  one  who  bore  for  nearly  ten  years  an  aching  heart — were 
the  victories  of  divine  grace.  This  man  knew  Jesus  Christ,  and 
no  one  doubted  who  ever  heard  his  public  prayers  that  he  was  a 
man  of  faithful  private  devotion,  that  his  liturgical  culture  was 
large.  The  nearer  one  lived  to  him,  the  better  he  loved  him,  and 
Dr.  Noyes  was  never  more  deeply  moved  than  by  the  testimony  of 
a  neighbor,  who,  at  a  recent  anniversary,  spoke  out  of  a  grateful 
heart  his  appreciation  of  Dr.  Noyes'  goodness.  Surely  I  have  said 
enough  to  show,  even  to  strangers,  that  this  man  commended  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ  by  what  he  wrought  and  by  what  he  was, 
as  well  as  by  what  he  said.  He  was  one  of  the  best  types  of 

18 


the  modern  Christian.  He  seemed  to  be  equally  at  home  in  a 
prayer  meeting  and  a  political  gathering,  at  a  dinner  party,  and  in 
a  literary  society.  He  was  able  wherever  he  went,  and  whatever 
he  did,  and  however  much  he  suffered,  to  find  admission  "into  the 
king's  chambers."  He  walked  with  God  and  dignified  and 
ennobled  the  life  work  of  the  Christian  minister  and  Christian 
scholar. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  know  something  of  his  inner  self;  to 
hear  him  speak  in  the  freedom  of  friendly  confidence,  and  he  was 
one  of  the  few  men  who  could  carry  on  earnest  and  prolonged 
debate,  and  yet  appear  to  think  as  much  of  you  after  he  had  failed — 
for  example,  to  convince  you  that  prohibition  was  wrong — as  he 
did  before.  He  loved  to  commend  his  brethren  when  they  struck 
a  brave  blow  for  righteousness.  Listen  to  these  words  which  he 
sent  me  when  I  was  in  Germany  :  "  Last  Sunday  morning  Blank 
(naming  a  well  known  clergyman),  gave  an  exhibition  of  genuine 
Scotch  grit  and  grace.  He  condemned,  in  strong  and  burning 
words,  the  Washington  Park  horse  races,  which  are  patronized  by 
not  a  few  influential  church  members,  and  at  which  pool  selling  on 
the  grounds  is  openly  and  shamelessly  carried  on.  I  hope  his 
words  will  prove  as  good  a  moral  tonic  in  their  way  as  did  the 
explosion  of  the  bomb.  And  if  they  kill,  I  hope  it  will  only  be  to 
make  alive." 

I  was  interested  to  discover  who  were  his  favorite  characters  or 
favorite  authors.  It  was  no  surprise  to  learn  how  much  his  mind 
dwelt  on  the  career  of  one,  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  was  almost  a 
neighbor  to  him  in  his  young  manhood,  and  who  was  certainly 
kindred  to  him  in  spirit  in  the  kindly,  earnest,  judicious  temper  of 
his  mind.  He  had  a  great  admiration,  as  was  essential,  for  his 
theological  teachers,  Prof.  Henry  B.  Smith  and  Dr.  Roswell  D. 
Hitchcock.  There  was  that  in  his  heart  which  drew  him  to  the 
hymns  of  Charles  Wesley,  and  I  need  not  say  that  much  that  was 
finest  and  most  humane  in  him  was  moved  by  the  poetry  of 
Shakespeare.  I  have  heard  him  repeat,  in  a  voice  trembling  with 
emotion,  what  he  deemed  the  matchless  words  describing  the 
atonement: 

"  Why,  all  the  souls  that  were,  were  forfeit  once, 
And  He  that  might  the  vantage  best  have  took 
Found  out  the  remedy." 

Few  men  that  I  have  known  have  had  a  wider  acquaintance 
with  the  history  of  our  own  country.  He  was  a  thorough  student 
of  America,  and  had  traveled  extensively  through  our  own  land, 

J9 


'<  the  goodliest  land  of  the  earth,"  as  his  patriotic  heart  called  it; 
had  observed  accurately,  and  reported  carefully  what  he  had  seen, 
and  he  was  aglow  in  sympathy  with  every  effort  to  build  up  on 
Christian  foundations  the  huge  fabric  of  our  Western  civilization. 
But  he  also  knew  Africa  quite  as  well  as  his  own  land.  He  had 
read  more  books  describing  the  dark  continent  than  any  other 
person  of  my  acquaintance,  and  he  kindled  into  the  hearts  of  his 
beloved  people  a  zeal  for  world-wide  evangelization.  He  appar- 
ently took  as  profound  an  interest  in  the  affairs  of  England  as  in 
those  of  Chicago.  After  Gladstone's  defeat  in  1886,  he  wrote: 
*'  Well,  Ireland's  day  is  not  yet,  and  the  Grand  Old  Man  must 
wait.  But  he  made  a  good  fight,  and  the  victory  will  yet  be  his. 
For  right  is  right,  since  God  is  God,  and  right  is  sure  to  win." 
In  one  of  the  last  interviews  I  ever  had  with  him,  I  spoke  of  two 
Congregational  ministers  of  Massachusetts  who  have  recently 
returned  from  a  tour  of  missionary  observations  around  the  world. 
I  said  to  Dr.  Noyes,  "  I  have  been  thinking  that  we,  in  this  Pres- 
bytery, ought  to  send  you  around  the  world  on  a  journey  of  the 
same  sort;"  and  I  shall  never  forget  the  happy  smile  with  which 
he  said,  "  I  should  like  to  4^0." 

'He  has  no  need  now  of  our  poor  tributes  and  feeble  services; 
he  has  been  admitted  into  auguster  fellowships  and  diviner  privi- 
leges than  any  earth  affords.  I  can  but  think  that  he  has  found 
"  other  nobler  work  to  do,"  and  that  those  benevolent  energies 
which  blessed  the  world,  have  not  been  numbed,  but  are  trans- 
figured in  loftier  service.  His  mind  had  an  affinity  with  great 
things,  with  America,  with  the  Yellowstone,  with  the  prairies, 
with  the  stars.  He  loved  to  contemplate  the  wondrous  handiwork 
of  God  in  earth,  and  sea,  and  sky.  He  had  a  large  acquaintance 
with  the  marvels  of  divine  power  and  wisdom,  and  some  of  you 
will  remember  with  what  thorough  knowledge  and  comprehensive 
understanding  and  powerful  expression  he  described  the  glory,  the 
magnificence,  and  the  might  of  the  sun  which  gives  life  to  the 
world,  but  which  is  only  one  in  the  midst  of  even  greater  marvels 
of  Omnipotence,  "  a  dewdrop  sparkling  on  the  finger  of  Almighty 
God."  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into 
the  heart  of  men  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them 
that  love  him.  Into  this  measureless  glory  our  brother  has  entered, 
and  he  beckons  us  to  follow.  We  rejoice  for  him.  A  year  ago, 
just  after  the  death  of  Rev.  Dr.  Brainerd  Kent,  Dr.  Noyes  wrote 
to  me:  "It  is  a  comfort  to  think  that  our  dear  old  Father  Kent 
is  at  rest.  How  wonderful  it  must  have  been  to  him  to  come  forth 


20 


from  his  low  despair,  and  to  find  how  unspeakably  better  to  him 
the  Lord  has  been  than  his  distressing  fear  had  led  him  to  expect." 
We  are  glad  for  what  he  was  and  what  he  did,  and  are  joyful  in 
remembering  how  he  made  us  better  for  the  life  he  lived  among 
ns,  and  we  also  thank  God  that  our  brother  had  so  many  things, 
even  on  earth,  to  fill  his  soul  with  peace,  and  to  gladden  it  with 
heavenly  cheer.  After  hearing  the  "  Messiah"  sung  for  the  next 
to  the  last  time,  Dr.  Noyes  wrote  me,  on  the  3oth  of  December, 
1887 :  "  Wasn't  it  heavenly  last  night  to  rest  beside  the  weary  road 
and  hear  the  angels  sing?  What  should  a  suffering  man  do  in  this 
world  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  unto  Kim  'a  child  is  born?'  and 
and  if  he  could  not  daily  sing  '  Hallelujah'  to  Him  who  *  shall  lead 
His  flock  like  a  shepherd,'  and  who  Himself,  a  *  man  of  sorrows 
and  acquainted  with  grief,'  knows  how  to  succor  them  who  are 
afflicted.  On  the  strength  of  last  night's  uplifting  and  *  hearing 
of  unspeakable  words  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter,'  I 
can  go  forty  days  and  more."  A  year  passed  by,  fruitful  in  work, 
for  in  it  he  conducted  nearly  one  hundred  preaching  services, 
another  Christmas  time  came,  he  heard  the  "Messiah"  once  more, 
and  I  received  from  him  as  a  holiday  token  of  love  a  little  book  in 
which  the  opening  poem  tells,  in  simple  lines,  the  story  of  his 
beautiful  suffering,  triumphant  life: 

"  Onward  and  up,  still  onward,  , 

Though  feet  fail  and  eyes  grow  dim, 
And  the  path  be  steep  and  stony, 
For  it  leads  at  the  last  to  Him. 

"  I  said,  '  Lord,  thy  cross  is  heavy, 
Too  heavy  alas  !  for  me  ; 
It  weighs  me  down  on  my  journey, 
And  I  cannot  climb  to  Thee.' 

"  He  said,  '  Thou  art  beloved, 
The  way  is  weary  and  long, 
Yet  the  race  is  not  aye  to  the  swift, 
Nor  the  battle  to  the  strong. 

"  Take  up  thy  cross  for  I  gave  it, 
Sore,  though  it  burdeneth  thee  ; 
Time  was  when  I  too,  was  laden, 
Bear  it,  beloved,  for  me." 

"  So  I  carry  the  cross  on  my  shoulder, 
And  its  weight  is  heavy  to  bear, 
But  I  hold  it  dear,  for  he  gave  it, 
And  I  know  I  shall  leave  it  there. 

21 


"  And  when  I  have  toiled  to  the  summit, 
I  shall-Jay  my  burden  down  ; 
I  shall  leave  the  cross  on  the  hill-top, 
And  bow  my  head  for  the  crown." 

Surely  if  Dr.  Noyes  regards  with  interest  this  scene  to-day,  it 
is  his  hope  that  the  words  spoken  here  may  direct  your  thoughts, 
not  so  much  to  him,  as  to  the  Christ  whom  he  served,  and  who,  I 
believe,  came  to  him  in  the  moment  of  death  when  his  eye  bright- 
ened and  his  lips  smiled,  came  in  fulfillment  of  that  promise,  "  I 
will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto  myself,  that  where  I  am 
there  ye  may  be  also."  In  a  sermon  preached  to  his  people,  five 
years  ago,  Dr.  Noyes  wrote:  "  Godly  souls  in  their  dying  moments 
often  see  these  things  clearly,  for  the  inner  eye  opens  as  the  eye  of 
sense  grows  dim."  He  once  wrote  to  me:  "It  will  be  all  well 
with  her  sometime,  and  it  will  be  all  well  with  me."  What  inspired 
this  faith  we  know.  Do  we  possess  it?  I  have  seen  the  last  ser- 
mon which  Dr.  Noyes  began  to  write;  he  never  finished  it;  you 
never  heard  it.  It  was  on  the  "  Use  and  Neglect  of  Opportunity." 
It  was  to  have  been  a  New  Year's  sermon.  Ah,  the  New  Year 
has  opened  more  brightly  for  him  than  he  had  anticipated.  If  we 
could  have  followed  his  spirit  as  it  took  its  flight  heavenward,  we 
might  have  seen  something  that  would  have  reminded  us  of  the 
vision  which  King  Arthur's  friend  had  of  his  passing  from  sight. 

"  Then  from  the  dawn  it  seemed  there  came,  but  faint 
As  from  beyond  the  limit  of  the  world, 
Like  the  last  echo  born  of  a  great  cry, 
Sounds  as  if  some  fair  city  were  one  voice, 
Around  a  king  returning  from  his  wars." 

He  has  had  a  choral  welcome  there,  and  there  he  hopes  to  greet 
us  all,  his  people,  friends,  neighbors,  wife,  sons,  daughter,  grand- 
children, all  the  fellowship  which  was  so  large,  in  which  his  heart 
found  scope  for  its  great  affection.  A  leader  in  our  Israel  has 
fallen,  and  the  old  places  that  he  loved  seem  to  us  desolate.  The 
spring  time  will  come  again  and  clothe  the  fields  with  grass,  and 
the  flowers  will  blossom  along  the  paths  which  he  once  trod.  The 
now  leafless,  trees  with 

"  Boughs  that  shake  against  the  old 
Bare,  ruined  choirs  where  once  the  sweet  birds  sang," 

will  be  vocal  again  with  melodies  that  he  loved.  But  his  voice 
will  be  silent  in  the  streets,  and  our  task  must  be  done  without 
him.  A  still  living  master  in  Israel  has  written:  "  There  is  only 

22 


one  gathering  place  of  the  great  and  good  which  shall  never  be 
left  desolate;  only  the  shade  of  the  Tree  of  Life  shall  be  always 
refreshing;  only  the  stream  from  the  Fountain  of  Life  shall  flow 
on  without  end." 

After  "  O  Cease,  My  Wandering  Soul"  had  been  sung  by  the 
choir,  came  the  second 

fitowsz  ftp  Br.  Jones. 

George  McDonald  said:  "Next  to  Christ  himself  the  greatest 
blessing  to  any  community  is  a  Christ-like  Christian."  Happy 
Evanston  !  Favored  people !  to  have  enjoyed  for  more  than 
twenty  years  the  presence  and  public  ministry  of  this  Christ-like 
Christian — Christ-like  man.  I  have  time  to  mention  but  two  fea- 
tures of  his  character  in  which  he  was  this:  First — he  was  a  man 
of  sorrows,  yet  he  was  anything  but  a  sorrowful  man.  Because  a 
man  is  a  man  of  sorrows,  it  does  not  follow  that  he  must  be  a  sor- 
rowful man.  Christ  was  a  man  of  sorrows,  yet  we  must  not  think 
of  him  as  a  sorrowful  man.  He  was  anything  but  that.  A  man 
who  lived  so  close  to  the  heart  of  nature  and  loved  nature  as  he  did 
could  not  be  a  sorrowful  man.  A  man  who  loved  children  as  he 
did  could  not  be  a  sorrowful  man.  A  man  who  spent  all  his  life 
doing  good,  giving  health  to  the  sick,  comfort  to  the  sad,  hope  to 
the  despairing,  pardon  and  peace  to  the  sinning, — a  man  who  was 
always  shedding  light  into  darkness,  and  causing  other  hearts  to 
sing  for  joy,  could  not  himself  be  a  sorrowing  man.  In  all  this  our 
brother  was  the  Christ-like  man ;  and  therefore,  for  the  same  reason, 
though  a  man  of  sorrows,  he  was  anything  but  a  sorrowful  man. 
He  loved  nature,  art,  poetry,  music.  He  loved  little  children.  He 
had  joined  their  parents  in  marriage,  spoken  words  of  congratula- 
tion when  the  little  ones  were  born,  placed  hands  of  holy  baptism 
on  their  heads,  gathered  them  into  Sunday  school,  and  some  of 
them  into  the  church.  Met  them  often,  joined  their  sports  in 
the  home,  spoke  to  them  on  the  street,  and  called  them  by  name. 
These  were  all  fountains  of  life  within  that  made  glad  his  heart, 
and  kept  fresh  his  spirit.  More  than  this — he  was  Christ-like  in 
that  he  was  always  nearest  to  the  neediest,  and  helpful  to  the  help- 
less, always  shedding  light  and  blessing  wherever  he  went,  among 
the  aged,  the  sick  and  the  poor.  "No  man  is  ever  allowed  to 
occupy  long  the  position  of  a  pure  benefactor.  The  giver  always 
has  his  turn,  and  becomes  the  receiver."  And  so  he  who  was 
always  making  others  glad  was  himself  made  glad.  This  remark- 

23 


able  thing  was  more  marked  in  him  than  in  any  man  I  ever  knew. 
In  the  social  circle  he  always  seemed  younger  than  his  years.  In 
the  Council  circle,  when  matters  of  serious  import  were  discussed, 
then  he  always  seemed  older  than  his  years.  The  other  feature  of 
Ghrist-like  character  in  him  was  his  clearness  of  perception  con- 
cerning the  truth,  his  love  of  truth  and  loyalty  to  conscience,  com- 
bined with  broad  catholicity  and  generous  charity.  He  learned  the 
royal  secret — Christ  revealed  and  Christ  inspired, — how  to  hate 
sin  and  love  the  sinner.  Abhor  evil,  yet  cleave  to  the  soul  of  the 
evil  doer.  No  man,  perhaps,  ever  went  beyond  him,  or  was  more 
Christ-like  in  this.  We  are  all  in  bereavement  to-day.  We  have 
lost  our  pastor.  We  sorrow  for  the  afflicted  family  and  church. 
We  also  enter  into  their  sorrow,  and  sorrow  with  them.  This  is  a 
loss  that  is  universally  deplored.  I  go  nowhere  where  it  is  not 
sadly  and  tenderly  spoken  of.  God  grant  that,  to  all  of  us,  in  the 
days  that  are  to  come,  it  may  yield,  as  under  his  gracious  hand  it 
will,  "  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness." 

Mrs.  Wyman  sang,  "  The  Lord  is  Mindful  of  His  Own,"  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Whittlesey  led  in  prayer,  and  the  Rev.  H.  B.  Ridgaway, 
D.  D.,  announced  the  hymn,  "  My  Jesus,  as  Thou  Wilt,"  which 
was  sung  by  the  congregation.  On  behalf  of  the  family  and 
church  of  Dr.  Noyes,  Mr.  H.  C.  Hunt  then  read  a  brief,  appre- 
ciative letter  of  thanks  for  the  sympathy  and  kindness  which  had 
been  extended  to  them.  After  a  few  introductory  words,  recalling 
how  little  most  men  make  of  themselves,  or  allow  grace  to  make 
of  them,  he  continued  as  follows: 

"  What  we  were  a  few  trite  sentences  will  quickly  tell  when  our 
lives  shall  have  become  history.  But  it  was  given  to  our  friend 
and  brother  and  pastor  to  live  a  better  and  a  nobler  life,  and  in  the 
broad  sweep  of  his  affections  and  labors  to  touch  many  lives  that 
should  feel  the  hurt  of  his  loss  when  he  was  taken.  It  is  to  own 
gratefully,  on  behalf  of  his  family  and  sorrowing  church,  all  the 
expressions  of  sympathy  and  affection  from  such  stricken  hearts 
that  we  stand  before  you  now. 

"  For  every  word  and  act  of  love —  for  every  tender  expression 
of  sympathy — for  every  offer  of  help  and  errand  of  mercy — for  all 
the  ready  feet  and  willing  hands — for  every  earnest,  heart-breathed 
petiiion — for  every  message  of  condolence — for  all  the  honor 
bestowed  upon  the  dead  and  tenderness  upon  the  living,  they  desire 
to  make,  here  and  now,  their  heartfelt  acknowledgments. 

"  To  all — in  this  community,  or  the  near  city,  or  broader  State — 
who  have  sought  to  honor  the  memory  of  the  dead,  or  to  give 

24 


expression  to  their  solicitude  for  the  living,  even  to  the  humble  and 
the  children,  whom,  like  his  Master,  the  departed  loved,  they  bring 
their  grateful  thanks." 

Before  pronouncing  the  benediction,  Dr.  Patterson  called  atten- 
tion to  the  appended  poem,  which  was  found  on  Dr.  Noyes'  study 
table,  and  which  he  read,  as  showing  that  Dr.  Noyes'  thoughts  had 
been  lately  dwelling  much  upon  the  end  of  life  and  the  blessedness 
of  heaven. 

ONE  LESS  AT  HOME— ONE  MORE  IN  HEAVEN. 

One  less  at  home  ! 

The  charmed  circle  broken — a  dear  face 
Missed  day  by  day  from  its  accustomed  place, 
But  cleansed,  and  saved,  and  perfected  by  grace  ! 

One  more  in  Heaven  ! 

One  less  at  home  ! 

One  voice  of  welcome  hushed  and  evermore 
One  farewell  word  spoken  ;  on  the  shore, 
Where  parting  comes  not,  one  soul  landed  more — 

One  more  in  Heaven  ! 

One  less  at  home  ! 

Chill  as  the  earth-born  mist  the  thought  would  rise, 
And  wrap  our  footsteps  round,  and  dim  our  eyes, 
But  the  bright  sunbeam  darteth  from  the  skies — 

One  more  in  Heaven  ! 

One  more  at  home  ! 

This  is  not  home,  where,  cramped  in  earthly  mold, 
Our  sight  of  Christ  is  dim — our  love  is  cold, 
But  there,  where  face  to  face  we  shall  behold, 

Is  home  and  Heaven  ! 

One  less  on  earth  ! 

Its  pain,  its  sorrow,  and  its  toil  to  share  ; 
One  less  the  pilgrim's  daily  cross  to  bear ; 
One  more  the  crown  of  ransomed  souls  to  wear, 

At  home  in  Heaven  ! 

One  more  in  Heaven  ! 
Another  thought  to  brighten  cloudy  days, 
Another  theme  of  thankfulness  and  praise, 
Another  link  on  high  our  souls  to  raise 

To  home  and  Heaven  ! 

One  more  at  home  ! 

That  home  where  separation  cannot  be, 
That  home  where  none  are  missed  eternally, 
Lord  Jesus,  grant  us  all  a  place  with  Thee, 

At  home  in  Heaven  ! 

25 


'  £l00ociafion. 

On  Monday  morning,  January  28th,  the  Presbyterian  Minis- 
ters' Association  of  Chicago,  held  a  memorial  meeting  for  Dr. 
Noyes.  The  exercises  opened  with  the  reading  of  the  following 
minute,  by  Dr.  Patterson: 

"  In  the  death  of  our  dearly  beloved  brother,  Dr.  George  C. 
Noyes,  this  Association  has  lost  one  of  its  most  honored  and  useful 
members. 

"  As  a  man  of  general  learning,  a  patron  of  art,  literature  and 
science,  an  efficient  helper  in  the  cause  of  education,  secular  and 
religious,  an  active  supporter  of  philanthropic  enterprises,  and  an 
earnest  advocate  of  liberty  and  equal  rights,  he  stood  among  the 
foremost. 

"  His  standard  of  Christian  morality  was  the  highest,  and  his 
support  of  it  conscientious  and  resolute. 

"  He  was  genial,  companionable  and  attractive  in  social  relations; 
warm  and  steadfast  in  his  friendships;  charitable  in  his  judgment 
of  others,  even  when  strongly  disapproving  their  opinions  or  posi- 
tion. 

"  He  was  the  most  devoted  worker  in  forwarding  the  enterprizes 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  interests  of  the  church  at 
large. 

"As  a  preacher  he  was  practical,  instructive,  earnest  and  impres- 
sive, while  as  a  pastor  he  was  diligent,  watchful,  conciliatory,  and 
untiring  in  his  attention  to  the  temporal  and  spiritual  necessities  of 
his  people.  Accordingly,  his  labors  were  eminently  fruitful  in  the 
upbuilding  and  enlargement  of  his  church  and  congregation. 

"  Few  ministers  among  us  have  been  esteemed  and  loved  by  so 
large  a  circle  of  friends  in  general  society  and  among  Christian 
people  beyond  his  own  church  and  denomination. 

"  The  faith  and  hope  of  our  brother  were  strong  and  unshaken 
through  the  peculiar  trials  of  his  personal  experience,  because  he 
accepted  from  the  heart  the  eternal  truths  of  God's  Holy  Word, 
and  entrusted  all  his  interests  for  time  and  eternity  into  the  hands 
of  the  Savior  whom  he  so  truly  loved.  We  are  afflicted  in 
common  with  his  church  and  bereaved  family  by  this  mysterious 
dispensation,  and  desire  to  take  home  to  ourselves  this  fresh  admo- 
nition to  be  also  watchful  and  ready  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 

"  We  hereby  tender  our  heartfelt  sympathy  to  the  church  thus 
left  as  sheep  without  an  earthly  shepherd,  and  to  the  family  of 

26 


our  departed  brother,  prayerfully  commending  all  to  the  care  and 
guardianship  of  the  God  of  all  blessing  and  comfort." 

DR.  ROBERT  PATTERSON,     ^ 

DR.  JOHN  H.   WORCESTER, 

«* 

REV.  EDWIN  R.  DAVIS,         L  Committee. 
REV.  DAVID  HARRIES, 
Editor  W.  C.  GRAY, 

Pending  the  adoption  of  this  minute,  the  deep  and  fraternal 
emotion  of  the  members  was  manifest,  and  several  of  them  made 
earnest  addresses  upon  Dr.  Noyes'  character  and  services.  The 
chief  portions  of  these  tributes  are  given  below. 

DR.    PATTERSON. 

I  have,  at  different  times,  spoken  of  the  life  and  character  of 
Dr.  Noyes.  On  those  occasions  I  have  abstained  from  any  remarks 
respecting  the  personal  relations  between  him  and  myself,  which 
have  uniformly  been  of  the  most  cordial  and  confidential  nature. 
I  can  hardly  trust  myself  now  to  speak  of  the  personal  friendship 
and  even  intimacy  that  has  existed  between  us.  I  have  known 
brother  Noyes  much  longer  than  any  other  member  of  this  Asso- 
ciation. We  were  both  graduates  of  Illinois  College,  at  Jackson- 
ville, in  this  State.  I  knew  his  good  reputation  there,  and  in 
Union  Seminary,  New  York,  where  he  studied  theology.  I 
became  personally  acquainted  with  him  shortly  after  he  left  the 
Seminary,  when  he  was  settled  at  Laporte,  Indiana.  Since  that 
time  we  have  been  on  terms  of  special  friendship  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death.  I  had  something  to  do  with  his  removal  to  Evanston, 
more  than  twenty  years  ago.  .  Since  his  settlement  at  Evanston,  I 
have  seen  him  almost  every  week,  and  during  the  last  three  years 
and  a  half,  almost  every  day.  His  death  is  therefore  to  me  pecu- 
liarly a  personal  loss.  My  oldest  friend  in  all  this  region  has  gone 
never  to  return.  Dr.  Noyes  and  I  had  different  mental  tendencies, 
but  we  agreed  closely  in  our  views  of  moral  and  religious  truth.  I 
was  fond  of  theological  and  exegetical  study.  He  was  not  speci- 
ally so,  but  we  came  to  the  same  conclusions  in  accepting  the 
revealed  facts  of  the  gospel,  while  neither  of  us  was  satisfied  with 
the  old  theories  in  theology.  In  regard  to  matters  pertaining  to 
the  interests  of  the  church  he  very  often  asked  my  judgment,  as  if 
desiring  all  available  help  to  avoid  mistakes  in  his  decisions  and 
actions. 

Dr.  Noyes  was  submissive  and  courageous  under  his  peculiar 


trials,  as  the  brethren  have  said;  but  as  he  often  told  me,  he  was 
only  enabled  to  maintain  his  accustomed  cheerfulness  by  keep- 
ing his  hands,  his  heart,  full  of  Christian  work,  and  by  cultivating 
personal  nearness  to  Christ.  In  his  prayer  meetings  he  very  often 
gave  out  the  beautiful  hymn,  by  Mrs.  Prentiss,  "  More  Love  to 
Thee,  O  Christ."  Sometimes  he  would  announce  this  same  hymn 
at  every  meeting,  through  a  whole  month.  Then  omitting  it  for 
two  or  three  weeks,  he  would  return  to  it  again,  as  if  the  supreme 
desire  of  his  heart  was  to  be  filled  with  the  love  of  Christ.  He  has 
now  gone  to  be  "  forever  with  the  Lord,"  and  I  expect,  when  I 
shall  go  up  ere  long  to  that  blessed  home,  that  he  will  be  among 
the  first  to  welcome  me  with  the  warm  grasp  of  his  hand,  and  with 
his  ever  pleasant  and  joyous  smile. 

THE    REV.    JOHN    H.    WORCESTER,  JR.,  D.   D., 
Pastor  of  the  Sixth  Presbyterian  Church,  Chicago. 

I  suppose  our  purpose  this  morning  is  rather  to  give  expression 
to  our  sense  of  what  Dr.  Noyes  was  to  us  personally,  than  to  dwell 
upon  his  relation  to  the  church  at  large,  or  to  attempt  any  estimate 
of  his  public  services,  great  and  varied  as  these  were.  It  is  some- 
times reckoned  as  one  of  the  privations  of  the  ministry,  that  the 
minister,  unlike  his  flock,  is  without  a  pastor.  We  are  not  less 
human  than  other  Christians,  and  we  stand  in  the  same  need  of 
sympathy,  encouragement  and  counsel.  Beyond  any  one  else 
among  us  Dr.  Noyes  took  this  place,  and  supplied  this  need  to  us 
all.  He  was  a  pastor  of  pastors.  No  minister  in  this  Presbytery, 
I  am  sure,  ever  went  to  him  in  vain  with  his  burdens,  perplexities, 
or  struggles.  It  is  this  that  afflicts  us  all  to-day  with  such  a  sense 
of  personal  loss. 

To  me  the  loss  is  greater  than  I  can  easily  express.  The  more 
I  dwell  upon  it,  the  more  I  realize  how  much  is  gone  out  of  our 
lives,  now  that  he  is  with  us  no  more.  It  seems  to  me  that  he  has 
hardly  been  out  of  my  thoughts  since  I  heard  that  he  had  gone, 
and  I  cannot  tell  when  a  life  has  preached  to  me  so  powerfully  as 
his.  I  loved  him  intensely;  I  think,  in  some  degree,  I  appreciated 
him.  1  seldom  meet  any  one  of  whom  I  am  so  often  moved  to 
say,  as  I  did  again  and  again  after  an  hour  in  Dr.  Noyes'  company: 
"What  a  delightful  man  he  is!  What  an  inexpressible  charm 
there  is  about  him!"  And  yet  it  was  not  till  he  was  taken  away 
that  I  fully  perceived  how  grand  a  man  he  was. 

The  very  simplicity,  which  was  one  of  his  distinguishing  traits, 
was  in  part  the  cause  of  this.  There  was  such  an  utter  absence  of 

28 


self-consciousness,  he  asserted  himself  so  little,  rather  he  effaced 
himself  so  completely,  that  he  did  not  challenge  attention  to  his 
merit,  and  constrain  us  to  take  the  full  measure  of  his  Christian 
manhood,  as  a  man  of  different  spirit  might  have  done. 

His  cheerfulness,  beautiful  in  itself,  was  doubly  beautiful  and 
doubly  impressive,  when  we  came  to  know  that  it  was  a  daily 
triumph  over  one  of  the  most  crushing  of  human  sorrows.  I  have 
seen  him  honestly  and  outspokenly  indignant  at  what  seemed  to 
him  wrong  and  unjust,  but  I  do  not  remember  that  I  ever  saw  him 
even  for  a  moment  visibly  despondent  or  gloomy.  No  one  who 
was  there,  I  am  sure,  will  ever  forget  the  scene  on  the  last  morn- 
ing of  that  precious  devotional  meeting  of  the  ministers  in  his 
church  at  Evanston,  three  years  ago,  when,  after  a  day  spent  in 
communion  with  each  other  and  our  Lord,  we  had  come  together 
for  a  final  meeting,  and  tender  references  were  made  in  speech  and 
prayer  to  Brother  Noyes'  deep  affliction.  Then  when  every  voice 
was  tremulous,  and  all  eyes  were  ready  to  overflow,  Dr.  Noyes 
ro?e  with  that  same  bright  face  and  cheery  voice  which  were  his 
always,  and  while  thanking  his  brethren  for  their  sympathy,  "none 
the  less  precious  that  it  had  been  largely  a  silent  sympathy,"  he 
bore  testimony  to  the  sustaining  grace  of  God,  which,  as  he  said, 
again  and  again  when  it  had  seemed  that  he  was  in  an  extremity, 
and  could  not  bear  his  burden  another  hour  had  taken  the  burden 
all  away,  and  enabled  him  to  go  on,  trustful  and  at  peace;  quoting 
that  verse  from  the  Psalms  which,  as  he  said,  though  precious  in 
the  old  version:  "Blessed  be  the  Lord  who  daily  loadeth  us  with 
benefits,"  was  still  more  precious  in  the  new  version:  "Blessed  be 
the  Lord  who  daily  beareth  our  burden,"  and  adding: 

"  I  know  not  where  his  islands  lift 

Their  fronded  palms  in  air, 
I  only  know  I  cannot  drift 
Beyond  his  love  and  care." 

I  felt  then  that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  a  spiritual  hero  and 
conqueror;  and  I  cherish  as  a  precious  memory  that  testimony  to 
the  sustaining  and  comforting  power  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

Another  thing  by  which  Dr.  Noyes  endeared  himself  to  us  was 
the  perfect  sweetness  of  his  spirit.  I  do  not  think  there  was  a  drop 
of  bitterness  in  his  nature.  Hard  things  had  been  said  about  him 
sometimes,  and  he  knew  it,  but  though  I  have  heard  him  refer  to 
such  things  and  to  the  pain  they  caused  him,  I  never  heard  him 
express  the  slightest  feeling  of  resentment,  nor  did  he  allow  the 

a 
29 


knowledge  of  such  things  to  affect  in  any  way  his  uniform  kind- 
ness towards  those  from  whom  they  came. 

This  kindliness  was  remarkable.  No  man  whom  I  have  known 
has  more  perfectly  exemplified  the  precept  "  speaking  the  truth  in 
love."  I  once  heard  him  read  a  letter  of  reproof  which  he  had 
felt  it  his  duty  to  write.  The  reproof  was  searching  and  faithful, 
fitted  to  awaken  any  conscience  not  wholly  stupified,  yet  it  was 
one  of  the  kindest  letters  that  could  have  been  written,  absolutely 
incapable,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  of  giving  offense.  I  have  been 
indebted  to  him  for  more  than  one  wholesome  admonition,  but  the 
admonition  was  always  so  kindly  expressed  that  I  loved  him  the 
better,  and  felt  the  more  grateful  to  him  for  it. 

Above  all,  Dr.  Noyes'  example  was  a  lesson  to  ws  of  self-for- 
getful devotion  to  that  service  of  Christ  in  the  ministry  of  the 
gospel  to  which  he  had  given  his  life.  Doubtless  he  may  have 
had  in  youth,  in  his  unregenerate  days,  like  others,  his  plans  of 
self-advancement  and  worldly  ambitions.  But  if  he  had  ever  had 
such  they  had  all  been  buried  out  of  sight  long  ago.  No  one  could 
be  with  him  familiarly  without  seeing  and  knowing  that  in  his 
heart  of  hearts  Christ's  work  was  the  thing  that  he  cherished,  and 
for  which  he  lived,  and  that  what  was  said  or  thought  of  him  per- 
sonally was  a  secondary  matter,  provided  only  the  work  went  for- 
ward, and  Christ  was  magnified. 

It  is  a  cause  for  daily  thanksgiving  to  God  that  in  my  work 
here  I  have  been  brought  close  to  such  a  man.  It  was  worth 
while  coming  to  Chicago  if  only  to  know  him  and  have  him  for  a 
friend.  And  it  is  the  prayer  of  my  heart  that  I  may  come  to  be  in 
some  far  off  way,  and  measure  as  a  man  and  a  minister  such  as  he 
was. 

REV.    D.    C.    MARQUIS,  D.  D., 
Professor  in  the  McCormick  Theological  Seminary. 

My  acquaintance  with  Brother  Noyes  began  at  the  time  of  his 
removal  to  this  Presbytery,  or  very  soon  after.  I  felt  myself 
drawn  to  him  at  first  by  the  attraction  of  my  wife  to  his.  On  my 
return  to  the  city,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  fifteen  years,  I  learned 
with  great  surprise  and  sorrow  the  shadow  that  had  fallen  upon 
his  home.  My  sympathies  were  all  the  more  strong  and  tender  on 
account  of  the  memory  of  that  early  attraction.  And  my  respect 
for,  and  my  admiration  of,  and  my  confidence  in,  Dr.  Noyes  were 
all  the  more  confirmed  by  the  noble,  manly,  Christian  way  in 
which  he  bore  his  affliction. 

30 


Our  paths  fell  somewhat  apart,  owing  to  differences  of  opinion 
that  developed  along  ecclesiastical  lines.  But  each  of  us  felt 
assured  concerning  the  other  that  the  difference  was  one  of  convic- 
tion. And  I  can  say  for  myself  that  I  always  had  the  utmost  con- 
fidence in  the  sincerity  of  Brother  Noyes'  convictions,  and  in  the 
purity  of  his  motives.  He  was  an  open,  manly  and  courteous 
antagonist.  His  earnestness  in  controversy  was  zeal  for  a  cause 
which  he  believed  to  be  right,  yet  no  one  could  justly  accuse  him 
of  exhibiting  unfriendly  feeling,  or  unbrotherly  conduct  toward 
those  with  whom  he  differed. 

REV.    HERRICK   JOHNSON,  D.  D.,  L.  L.  D., 

Professor  in  the  McCormick  Theological  Seminary. 

If  I  were  to  emphasize  one  thing  above  another,  in  cataloguing- 
the  qualities  of  Brother  Noyes'  character,  it  would  be  his  broad  and 
deep  sincerity.  It  is  well  known  that  he  and  I  disagreed  concern- 
ing some  important  questions,  both  of  principle  and  policy.  On 
some  points  the  disagreement  was  radical.  And  the  contention  for 
our  respective  positions  was  frequently  sharp  and  vigorous.  But 
we  respected  each  others'  motives.  And  I  am  not  conscious  of 
ever  having  had  occasion,  in  our  discussions,  to  challenge  the  full- 
ness and  thoroughness  of  his  sincerity.  Indeed,  it  was  in  the  heat 
of  one  of  our  earnest  debates  that  we  once  sat  down  after  a  Mon- 
day morning  ministers'  meeting,  and  talked  the  matter  all  over, 
and  looked  into  each  other's  hearts,  he  lifting  the  veil  and  inviting 
me  to  some  confidence  that  gave  me  deeper  impression  than  ever 
of  the  genuineness  of  his  purpose,  and  that  stamped  his  spirit  with 
a  rare  and  tender  honorableness. 

Another  feature  that  was  emphasized  to  my  thought  in  his  later 
years,  was  his  keen,  delicate  sense  of  the  proprieties.  It  was  some- 
thing deeper  than  the  art  of  deft  and  courteous  speech.  It  was  a 
fineness  of  fiber  pertaining  to  spirit  rather  than  to  form.  It  gave 
him  quick  perception  of  possible  embarrassment  to  others,  and 
made  him  generously  sensitive  of  intrusion,  where  his  word  or 
presence  might  by  any  one  be  counted  an  infelicity. 

He  was  varied  and  broad,  too.  He  touched  many  interests, 
He  was  actively  identified  with  much  that  was  best  in  the  life  of 
our  city  and  our  church.  We  shall  miss  him  everywhere.  May 
we  be  better  men  for  his  life  and  death. 

REV.    EDWIN    R.    DAVIS, 
Presbyterian  Missionary. 

My  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Noyes  began   soon  after  he  became 

31 


a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  Chicago,  over  twenty  years  ago. 
Closely  associated  with  him  in  its  mission  work  for  several  years. 
I  knew  him  intimately,  loved  him  as  a  true  friend,  and  admired 
him  for  his  many  noble  and  beautiful  traits  of  character.  He  was 
ever  what  he  appeared  to  be.  There  was  no  pretense  about  him. 
He  was  sincere  and  earnest  in  his  convictions  of  truth  and  duty, 
charitable  towards  those  who  differed  from  him,  kindly,  fraternal 
with  his  brethren,  courteous  to  all.  While  his  heart  bore  the 
burden  of  a  great  sorrow,  yet  he  was  cheerful  and  genial  as  a 
companion,  wisely  and  tenderly  ministering  the  consolations  of  the 
gospel  to  those  in  affliction.  As  a  Presbyter,  he  served  our  church 
with  rare  fidelity,  intelligence  and  a  breadth  of  judgment  not 
excelled,  if  equalled,  by  others.  While  he  was,  in  a  remarkable 
degree,  a  manly  man,  exhibiting  great  force  and  strength  of  char- 
acter, yet  his  sensibilities  were  as  tender  and  refined  as  those  of  a 
woman,  leading  him  to  a  careful  regard  for  the  feelings  of  others. 
His  visits  to  my  home  were  always  a  comfort  to  my  invalid  wife. 
By  grace  prepared,  our  brother  was  ready  for  the  Master's  use  and 
presence.  Our  comfort  is,  by  that  same  grace  we  may  continue  to 
serve,  and  then,  at  His  bidding,  come  to  greet  our  brother  in  the 
Master's  presence. 

REV.    W.    W.    TOTHEROH,  D.   D., 

Pastor  of  the  Hyde  1'ark  Presbyterian  Clinrch. 

As  a  recent  comer,  it  may  be  that  it  would  be  more  appropriate 
were  I  to  retain  my  seat  and  remain  silent,  thus  affording  more 
opportunity  to  others  who  have  been  longer  and  more  intimately 
associated  with  Dr.  Noyes,  to  bear  testimony  touching  their  high 
appreciation  of  his  many  grand  and  noble  qualities.  And,  yet, 
perhaps,  in  the  very  fact  that  I  have  but  recently  removed  to  this 
locality,  there  may  be  a  reason  why  I  should  speak,  and,  for 
myself  and  others,  who  have  within  a  short  time  come  into  the 
Chicago  Presbytery,  bear  witness  to  our  brother's  ready  and  cor- 
dial welcome  for  the  new  comer.  It  was  a  rare  privilege  to  form 
the  acquaintance  of  such  an  one  as  he.  His  courtesy  was  not  of 
that  kind  that  is  so  often  put  on  for  a  time  or  a  purpose;  it  was 
not  perfunctory;  it  belonged  to  his  very  nature.  In  the  grasp  of 
his  hand,  the  look  of  his  eye,  and  the  tone  of  his  voice,  his  soul 
revealed  itself. 

A  picture  of  Dr.  Noyes,  that  I  have  long  treasured,  is  of  an 
incident  of  years  ago.  It  was  soon  after  I  had  entered  the  ministry. 
I  was  in  this  city  for  a  visit,  and  with  a  ministerial  friend  I  came 

32 


to  this  minister's  meeting.  I  was  presented  to  one  after  another 
of  the  brethren,  but  that  was  all  there  was  of  it.  No  one  seemed 
to  take  any  special  interest  in  me,  nor  in  the  locality  in  which  I 
was  settled.  I  was  among  my  brethren,  but,  I  confess  that  I  felt 
somewhat  lonesome.  Presently  I  was  introduced  to  Brother 
Noyes,  at  that  time  ( 1874)  one  of  the  busiest  members  of  the  Pres- 
bytery. Many  were  waiting  to  consult  him — how  natural  it  was 
for  us  to  consult  him! — but  he  paused  to  make  inquiries  as  to  myself 
and  my  work,  and  to  bid  me  God-speed.  Somehow  I  felt  at  once 
as  though  I  was  encircled  by  his  friendship.  The  interview, 
brief  as  it  was,  seemed  to  me  a  blessed  means  of  grace. 

Within  a  few  months  we  have  met  frequently,  and  the  interest 
he  has  shown  towards  me  has  been  in  harmony  with  his  conduct 
of  years  ago.  But  my  experience  has  only  been  in  keeping  with 
that  of  all  others. 

Many  things  in  our  brother's  character  and  disposition  have 
been  mentioned  this  hour  as  being  worthy  of  our  emulation;  but  to 
my  mind  no  quality  commends  itself  more  impressively  than  his 
beautiful  and  uniform  grace  of  Christian  courtesy. 

REV.    W.    T.    MELOY,  D.  D.. 

Pastor  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Chtirch,   Chicago. 

"  He  that  dwelleih  in  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High  shall 
abide  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty."  Do  you  know  what  it 
is  to  have  communion  with  God — to  be  taken  into  the  Divine  con- 
fidence— to  know  "  the  secret  of  the  Lord"  which  is  with  those 
who  fear  Him? 

This,  I  believe,  was  the  delightful  experience  of  our  recently 
departed  brother.  To  this  source  we  must  trace  the  calmness 
and  peace,  the  composure  and  resignation,  that  pervaded  his  whole 
life.  Who  has  failed  to  be  charmed  with  the  writings  of  Charles 
Lamb?  What  a  sweet  spirit  he  breathes.  But  it  is  only  when  we 
know  how  deeply  he  suffered  himself  while  cheering  the  outer 
world  that  we  are  able  to  appreciate  the  true  nobility  of  his  char- 
acter. He  willingly  made  the  greatest  sacrifice,  and  preferred  to 
take  his  dear  sister's  hand  and  walk  with  her  through  the  gloomiest 
shadows  of  life.  We  wonder  that  he  could  minister  to  the  world's 
pleasure  while  his  own  heart  was  bleeding.  But  Dr.  Noyes  experi- 
enced a  deeper  trial.  No  one  would  ever  have  guessed  that  his 
genial  spirit  had  been  touched  with  grief  as  he  gave  himself,  with 
Christ-like  devotion,  to  dispel  the  clouds  that  brooded  over  others. 
And  yet  we  ought  to  know  that  the  hands  that  have  been  pierced 

33 


are  the  ones  that  may  be  lifted  up  in  richest  benedictions,  and  that 
the  High  Priest  of  true  consolation  has  been  made  perfect  through 
suffering. 

There  are  some  men  of  real  worth  with  whom  you  must  long- 
be  acquainted,  before  you  will  understand  the  nobility  of  their 
souls.  But  one  could  not  be  long  with  Dr.  Xoyes  without  know- 
ing him.  His  look  was  sympathetic;  his  hand-grasp  was  free,  and 
his  bearing  eminently  that  of  a  Christian  gentleman.  There 
seemed  to  be  nothing  to  hide  from  you,  and  you  knew  him  the 
moment  you  met  him.  That  he  had  faults  I  do  not  doubt,  for  the 
perfection  of  Christian  manhood  has  never  been  exhibited  but  once 
on  earth.  But  of  his  faults,  I  can  truly  say  I  never  saw  them,  and 
could  not  even  guess  what  they  were.  But  he  is  gone  from  us> 
and  this  world  will  be  less  our  home  because  he  is  not  in  it,  and  in 
these  meetings  there  will  be  a  feeling  of  loneliness  because  our 
brother  cannot  be  with  us. 

REV.    SIMON   J.    MCPHERSON,  D.  D., 
Pastor  of  t lie  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Chicago. 

I  have  been  thinking,  as  I  sat  here,  that  Dr.  Noyes  would  have 
been  at  once  abashed  and  happy  if  he  could  have  heard  these 
glowing  tributes  of  his  brethren.  He  was  a  singularly  modest 
man,  yet,  like  all  affectionate  natures,  he  loved  to  know  that  he 
was  loved.  He  had  a  remarkable  capacity  for  friendship.  We 
all  know,  I  may  say,  in  passing,  what  a  rich  fund  of  humor,  and 
what  a  gift  for  innocent  mirth,  he  possessed.  We  all  loved  him; 
that  is  plain  to-day.  But  I  wonder  whether  we  gave  him  his  due 
by  letting  him  know  that  fact  while  he  was  here  among  us. 

I  have  been  recalling,  too,  like  the  rest  of  you,  his  untiring 
industry.  I  warned  him  last  fall  that  he  was  working  too  hard, 
that  his  countenance  betrayed  him.  But  he  had  so  little  self-con- 
sciousness, so  little  selfishness,  that  my  words  made  small  impres- 
sion upon  him.  Besides  his  sense  of  duty  and  his  appreciation  of 
the  world's  great  need,  he  had  two  special  promptings  to  constant 
toil:  his  care  of  all  the  churches,  and  the  danger  of  brooding  over 
his  constant  sorrow.  Any  one  of  us,  it  would  seem,  could  have 
been  better  spared  than  he,  so  generous  and  devoted  was  he  to  all 
needy  churches — so  steadily  did  he  acknowledge  the  debt  which 
strength  owes  to  weakness.  As  to  his  affliction,  we  often  ignored 
it,  I  fear,  because  he  bore  it  so  cheerfully  and  bravely,  and  because 
he  kept  himself  occupied  for  others.  But  one  that  loved  as  he 
did — one  that  had  so  refined  and  noble  a  companion  to  love — could 

34 


not  help  feeling  the  burden  of  her  long  illness  and  separation  from 
him  most  poignantly.  Yet  he  never  felt  hopeless,  as  we  have 
heard.  Nor  did  he  ever  feel  the  least  bitterness,  even  after  he  had 
become  convinced  that  if  different  counsels  had  been  followed, 
much  of  the  long  agony  might  have  been  spared  them. 

Another  thing  that  I  greatly  admired  in  him  was  the  unobtru- 
sive strength  and  energy  of  his  character.  Every  one  noticed  his 
rich  sympathy,  even  with  the  degraded ;  but  he  possessed  also 
great  capability  for  indignation  against  meanness  and  malicious 
evil.  Tolerant  and  charitable  towards  all  men,  his  own  convictions 
were  intense.  He  had  an  unwavering  belief  in  the  revealed  word 
of  God  and  in  prayer,  and  a  chivalrous  loyalty  towards  Jesus 
Christ.  His  gentleness  tempered  the  expression  of  his  beliefs,  but 
it  never  interfered  with  his  strict  adherence  to  evangelical  truth; 
nor  did  it  abate  an  iota  from  his  judgment  of  measures  proposed 
by  either  friends  or  opponents.  For  that  reason  he  was  one  of  the 
most  trusted  counselors  of  my  life.  He  was  also  a  brave  man. 
His  inaugural  address  as  President  of  the  Literary  Club,  while  it 
offended  no  one,  was  a  distinct  testimony  on  behalf  of  his  Divine 
Master. 

Perhaps  the  best  summary  of  his  qualities  can  be  given  by  say- 
ing that  his  life  was  an  unartificial  and  uniform  exhibition  of  the 
spirit  of  the  Savior.  That  certainly  was  to  me  his  most  exalted 
and  conspicuous  characteristic.  I  think  that  in  this  moving  hour, 
as  in  every  hour  since  he  left  us,  we  should  acknowledge  alike  the 
rebuke  and  the  inspiration  of  his  almost  faultless  career. 

REV.   JAS.    H.    MALCOLM, 
Pastor  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church,  Chicago. 

Although  the  time  for  adjournment  has  come,  I  cannot  get  the 
consent  of  my  heart  to  let  this  service  close  without  saying  a  word. 
My  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Noyes  is  limited  to  the  short  time  I 
have  been  in  this  city,  but  that  short  time  has  been  so  much 
enriched  by  the  blessed  touch  of  our  departed  brother.  Coming 
into  this  Presbytery  comparatively  a  stranger,  he  greeted  me  as  a 
friend,  and  so  cordial  was  his  greeting,  that  at  once  he  won  my 
heart  and  confidence — I  loved  him.  I  loved  him  because  he  first 
loved  me.  I  loved  him  because  he  fed  and  strengthened  my  love. 
As  I  have  sat  here  and  listened  to  the  tributes  you  have  severally 
brought  and  laid  at  his  feet,  you  who  have  known  him  for  years, 
I  am  impressed  with  what  a  compliment  this  man's  life  is  to  his 
Master, whose  he  was  and  is, and  whom  he  served.  Human  great- 

35 


ness  is  distributed  among  men.  It  is  seldom  we  see  a  man  who  is 
great  in  more  than  one  direction,  but  it  seems  as  though  greatness 
in  every  direction  meets  in  our  brother,  Dr.  Noyes.  But  summing 
up  what  has  been  said  this  hour,  and  adding  to  this  my  personal 
knowledge  of  the  man,  it  seems  as  though  this  man  embodied 
every  element  of  that  greatness  which  characterizes  a  noble,  faith- 
ful servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Since  his  death  I  have  read 
and  re-read  his  sermon  preached  on  the  twentieth  anniversarv  of 
his  pastorate,  if,  perchance,  I  might  catch  something  of  his  spirit. 
As  Dr.  Worcester  has  already  said,  since  I  heard  of  his  death,  his 
life  has  been  a  daily  sermon  to  me.  And  in  this  solemn  hour  I  long 
to  be  filled  with  his  spirit,  that  I  may  have  the  grace  and  the  sweet 
temper  that  he  evinced  as  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  as  a  min- 
ister of  the  blessed  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  the  love  of 
Christ  that  was  pulsing  and  throbbing  in  him,  making  itself  felt 
wherever  he  went,  may,  in  some  measure,  appear  in  my  life. 
Remembering  that  this  is  a  memorial  service,  my  judgment  is,  that 
the  greatest  honor  we  can  show  to  the  dead  is  to  honor  the  living. 
Let  the  life  we  so  much  honor  to-day  by  our  words  be  the  life  we 
shall  seek  to  reproduce.  Let  us  take  up  his  fallen  mantle,  and  love 
one  another  as  he  loved  us.  I  look  upon  this  as  one  of  the  lessons 
to  be  learned  from  this  hour,  and  that  this  may  be  impressed  upon 
us,  let  us  spend  a  short  season  in  prayer  that  his  spirit  may  more 
and  more  be  manifest  in  us. 


of  Various 

I.  -  THE    VILLAGE    OF    EVANSTON. 

EVANSTON,  February  4th,  1889. 
To  the  President  and  Members  of  the  Village  Council,  Evanston,  Illinois  : 

Your  Special  Committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  minutes  of 
the  President,  calling  attention  to  the  death  of  Dr.  Geo.  C.  Noyes, 
for  so  long  a  period  one  of  Evanston's  most  prominent  and  honored 
citizens,  would  report: 

That  although  Dr.  Noyes  was  rot  an  officer  of  the  Village  or 
directly  connected  with  the  administration  of  its  government,  yet 
he  was  so  thoroughly  identified  with  its  life  and  history,  and  was, 
to  so  large  an  extent,  connected  with  all  of  our  public  and  philan- 
thropic enterprises,  that  it  is  especially  fitting  that  this  Council 
record  its  appreciation  of  him  as  a  man  pure  and  upright  in  char- 
acter, earnest  and  patriotic  as  a  citizen,  generous  and  sympathiz- 
ing as  a  friend. 

36 


While  his  loss  to  our  community  is  incalculable,  we  remember 
that  he  has  bequeathed  to  us  a  rich  heritage  in  the  influence  of  a 
virtuous  and  Godly  life.  Everywhere  men  will  be  the  better  for 
having  known  him;  every  good  influence  was  quickened  by  his 
teaching  and  by  his  example;  every  good  work  received  encour- 
agement and  aid  from  him. 

To  the  family  and  friends  who  have  been  so  especially  bereaved, 
we  tender  our  earnest  and  heartfelt  sympathy,  and  while  we  com- 
mend them  to  the  tender  care  of  Him  from  whom  alone  true  con- 
solation can  be  received,  we  would  assure  them  that  their  sorrow 
is  shared  by  an  entire  community,  each  member  of  which  feels 
that  he  has  been  afflicted  and  bereaved. 

We  would  recommend  that  this  report  be  entered  at  length 
upon  the  journal,  and  that  the  action  of  the  Council  be  officially 
communicated  to  Dr.  Noyes'  family. 

FRANK  P.  CRANDON,  } 

CHAS.  T.  GILBERT,       >  Committee. 

\ 
JOHN  R.  LINDGREN.     ) 

Unanimously  adopted. 

II. THE  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH,  OF  EVANSTON. 

Read  at  the  prayer-meeting  at  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Wed- 
nesday evening,  February  6th. 
Dear  Friends  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  of  Evans  ton  : 

The  death  of  your  beloved  and  honored  pastor  will  call  forth 
many  affectionate  tributes  from  individuals,  outside  of  his  own  con- 
gregation, who  have  been  helped  and  cheered  by  his  words  of 
counsel  and  consolation.  But  aside  from  these  individual  testi- 
monials, it  seemed  appropriate  that  we,  as  a  church,  should  lay 
upon  his  bier  our  tribute  of  respect  and  affection. 

Twice  in  our  history  we  have  been  the  sharers  of  your  hospi- 
tality. \Vhen  it  was  decided  twenty  years  ago  to  disband  the  Lake 
Avenue  Church,  that  union  enterprise  from  which  both  of  our 
churches  sprung,  we  accepted  your  invitation  to  worship  with  you, 
while  our  church  was  building.  When  four  years  ago  our  church 
building  was  destroyed  by  fire,  your  hospitable  doors  were  again 
open  to  us.  On  the  first  occasion  we  shared  with  you  the  pastoral 
care  of  Dr.  Noyes;  and  although  on  the  last  occasion  we  were 
ministered  to  by  our  own  pastor,  we  felt  that  we  were  brooded 
over  by  the  loving  sympathy  of  our  great-hearted  friend. 

It  will  be  for  others  to  delineate  those  traits  of  character  which 

37 


made  him  so  beloved  and  honored.  But  there  were  two  rare  and 
beautiful  qualities  which  we  have  always  greatly  admired  in  him. 
He  was  always  loyal  to  his  convictions  of  duty,  and  he  fearlessly 
expressed  them;  but  he  expressed  them  in  such  a  generous,  toler- 
ant way,  that  he  never  forfeited  the  good  will  of  his  opponents. 
He  was  also  a  man  of  never-failing  cheerfulness.  It  was  this  that 
drew  all  hearts  towards  him.  His  cheery,  sunshiny  presence  was 
a  benediction  in  every  home  that  he  entered ;  and  yet  what  a 
weight  of  sorrow  rested  on  that  manly  heart. 

Your  loss  is  very  great,  but  what  a  wealth  of  memory  is  yours! 
What  a  privilege  to  have  enjoyed  twenty  years  of  such  a  ministry 
as  his!  Oh,  for  another  such.  That  is  our  prayer  for  you. 

On  behalf  of  the  First  Congregational  Church,  of  Evanston, 

L.  H.  BOUTELL, 
FRANCIS  BRADLEY, 
H.  B.  HILL. 

III. THE    EVANSTON    CLUB. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Evanston  Club,  held  Monday  evening, 
February  4th,  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted: 

WHEREAS,  We  learn  with  deep  regret  of  the  death  of  our 
revered  and  well-beloved  friend  and  fellow-townsman,  the  Rev. 
George  C.  Noyes,  D.  D. 

Resolved,  That  as  individual  members  of  the  Evanston  Club 
we  cherish  his  memory  as  a  Christian  gentleman  and  leader  of 
men,  showing  dignity  in  his  profession  and  generous  fellowship  to 
all.  And  appreciating  that  such  characteristics  lie  at  the  heart  of 
all  human  associations  we  will  hold  our  departed  friend  in  revered 
recollection,  and  herewith  convey  our  respectful  condolence  to  his 
family. 

IV. THE    FRESHMAN     CLASS,    NORTHWESTERN    UNIVERSITY. 

WHEREAS,  It  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  remove  from  our 
midst  by  death  one  honored  and  beloved,  in  the  person  of  Dr. 
George  C.  Noyes. 

AND  WHEREAS,  We,  the  members  of  the  Freshman  Class  of 
Northwestern  University,  mourn  his  loss,  both  to  his  family  and 
to  the  community  at  large. 

Resolved^  That  we  do  hereby  extend  to  our  honored  member, 
Mr.  Marshall  P.  Noyes,  our  heartfelt  sorrow  and  tenderest  sym- 
pathy in  his  bereavement; 

33 


And  Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to  him, 
and  also  a  copy  be  published  in  the  ensuing  numbers  of  the  North- 
western and  The  Index. 

V. THE    PRESBYTERIAN    SOCIAL    UNION,    OF    CHICAGO. 

We  put  upon  record  our  sense  of  deep  bereavement  in  the 
death  of  our  beloved  brother,  the  Rev.  George  C.  Noyes.  And  yet 
in  the  midst  of  our  grief,  we  recogni/e  the  hand  which  doeth  all 
things  well.  We  know  that  it  could  be  truly  said  of  our  brother, 
that  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ  was  for  him  far  better. 

Our  departed  friend  was  eminent  in  all  the  qualities  of  Chris- 
tian manhood.  His  mind  was  strong,  clear  and  thoroughly  furn- 
ished. He  was  a  faithful  and  devoted  pastor,  an  able  preacher  of 
the  gospel,  a  wise  counselor,  and  a  true,  constant  and  loving 
friend.  We  extend  our  sympathies  to  his  family,  to  his  people,  to 
all  who  were  permitted  to  know  him,  in  this  our  common  loss. 
We  may  say  of  him:  "Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous: 
may  my  last  end  be  like  his." 

DR.  WM.  C.    GRAY,  \ 

REV.  J.  H.  BARROWS,  D.  D.,  I  Committee. 

HENRY  B.  CRAGIN,  ESQ.          ) 

VI. — THE    CHICAGO    LITERARY    CLUB. 

This  Club  has  met  with  a  severe  bereavement  in  the  death  of 
one  of  its  most  esteemed  members,  who,  but  a  few  months  ago, 
filled  the  highest  official  position. 

George  Clement  Noyes  was  born  at  Landaff,  New  Hampshire, 
August  4th,  1833.  When  he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  his  parents 
removed  to  Perry,  in  Pike  County,  Illinois. 

He  early  gave  evidence  of  scholarly  tastes,  and,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  entered  Illinois  College  at  Jacksonville.  He  was  gradu- 
ated in  1855,  and  entered  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  New 
York  City.  In  1858,  he  assumed  his  first  pastoral  relation  at 
Laporte,  Indiana,  where  he  remained  ten  years.  He  was  then 
called  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Evanston,  where  he 
completed  his  twenty  years  of  pastoral  service  in  November  last. 

Dr.  Noyes  was  elected  a  member  of  this  Club  in  1882;  and, 
perhaps,  no  member  ever  more  keenly  enjoyed  the  privilege  of 
social  intercourse  with  its  members  and  of  contributing  to  its  liter- 
ary exercises.  He  never  missed  a  meeting  when  it  was  possible 
for  him  to  be  present.  His  broad,  catholic  spirit,  his  genial  man- 
ners, and  joyous,  warm  sensibilities,  made  him  a  universal  favorite 

39 


in  the  Club.  In  whatever  circle  he  was,  there  were  happy  faces, 
animated  conversation,  the  humorous  assault,  the  sharp  repartee, 
and  much  sportive  laughter.  Every  one  felt  that  in  him  was  a- 
true  friend  and  safe  counselor.  He  enjoyed  humor;  he  loved 
music,  painting  and  sculpture;  he  loved  his  friends,  and  would  go 
far  out  of  his  way  to  serve  them.  Such  domestic  affliction  as  his 
would  have  crushed  an  ordinary  man;  but  in  his  case  it  refined  his 
spirit,  and  prepared  him  to  sympathize  with  the  woes  of  others. 

The  character,  which  was  so  attractive  to  the  members  of  this 
Club,  impressed  every  one  within  the  wide  range  of  his  influence — 
the  church  of  which  he  was  the  pastor,  the  inhabitants  of  the  town 
where  he  resided,  and  of  the  great  city  of  which  it  is  a  suburb. 
When  he  entered  a  car  on  a  suburban  train  every  eye  was  upon 
him,  seeking  for  his  cheerful  look  of  recognition.  Persons  of  no 
religious  faith  loved  him,  and  came  to  him  for  counsel  and  sym- 
pathy in  their  afflictions.  The  term  "  Bishop  of  Evanston  and  the 
surrounding  country"  would  define  his  pastoral  relations. 

Dr.  Noyes  was  a  scholar.     He  kept  up  his  study  of  the  ancient 
classics;  and  his  investigations  covered  a  much  wider  range  thaiy 
was  required  for  his  own  pulpit.     Every  great  moral,  political  and 
social  question  of  the  day  he  studied  carefully,  and  was  a  frequent 
contributor  concerning  them  to  the  religious  and  secular  press. 

For  many  years  he  was  an  editorial  writer  on,  and  the  weekly 
correspondent  of,  the  Neiv  Tork  Evangelist,  over  the  signature  of 
"  Clement."  In  furnishing  these  letters  he  required  of  the  editors 
this  condition — that  they  would  not  change  or  omit  anything  he 
should  write. 

It  was  not  possible  for  him  to  limit  his  range  of  vision  to  the 
field  immediately  around  him.  His  interest  and  sympathies 
extended  over  the  whole  country,  and  even  the  whole  continent. 
Hende"  he  developed  a  strong  taste  for  travel.  He  loved  to  make 
excursions  to  the  South,  that  he  might  inspect  the  condition  of  the 
freedmen  and  the  process  of  reconstruction.  He  made  a  journey 
to  Puget's  Sound,  Oregon,  and  California,  and  another  to  Mexico, 
and  wrote  out  his  thoughtful  observations  on  both  journeys  when 
he  returned. 

As  a  Christian  minister  he  was  distinguished  by  a  rare  combi- 
nation of  earnestness  and  charity,  of  sound,  practical  judgment  and 
unselfish  activity  in  good  works,  of  strict  fidelity  to  his  own  care- 
fully formed  and  firm  convictions,  and  respect  for  the  sincere  con- 
victions of  others.  He  was  a  notable  exception  to  the  rule  which 
Mrs.  Browning  announced,  in  saying  that  "  Faith  and  toleration 

40 


are  found  in  our  age,  but  they  are  found  apart;  we  tolerate  every- 
body because  we  believe  nothing,  or  else  we  tolerate  nobody 
because  we  believe  something."  He  was  a  Christian  of  the  nobler 
type  of  character,  and  multitudes,  whose  lives  have  been  touched 
and  blessed  by  his  gracious  manhood,  feel  that  they  have  lost  in 
him  a  friend,  who  beautifully  exemplified  what  is  best  in  the  Chri?- 
tian  faith.  His  work  as  a  minister  was  marked  by  large  and  con- 
tinued success;  he  was  widely  known  and  sincerely  esteemed  by 
those  in  his  own  denomination,  and  by  many  others.  He  was  par- 
ticularly interested  in  the  moral  and  spiritual  enlightenment  of  the 
growing  populations  in  the  newer  regions  of  our  own  country- 
His  study  and  extended  personal  observation  had  given  him  a 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  imperial  Western  domain,  which 
is  to  be  a  controlling  factor  in  the  future  life  of  America,  and  his 
mind  was  deeply  concerned  with  efforts  for  its  educational  and 
moral  improvement.  The  ideal  of  the  Christian  minister  which 
he  presents  to  us  is  that  of  one  who,  while  diligent  in  self-culture, 
faithful  to  his  special  work  and  earnest  in  delivering  his  message  to 
his  own  people,  fully  realized  that  he  had  large  and  vital  connec- 
tions with  his  country  and  with  the  world,  and  who,  with  all 
modesty,  might  have  repeated  the  line  of  the  Roman  dramatist: 
"Homo  sum,  humani  nihil  a  me  alienum  puto." 

WILLIAM  F.  POOLE, 


JOHN  H.  BARROWS, 
CLINTON  LOCKE. 


Committee. 


Mormon  by  frof. 

On  January  2oth,  Prof.  Swing  preached  to  his  congregation  in 
Chicago,  a  sermon  on  "The  Coming  Ideal  Clergyman."    Extracts 
from  it,  referring  more  directly  to  Dr.  Xoyes,  are  here  given: 
He  preached  the  word  unto  them.  —  Mark  ii.  :  2.          . 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Noyes,  of  this  city,  who,  since  last  Sunday,  has 
passed  from  the  earth,  was  so  well  known  to  many  of  you,  and 
was  so  highly  esteemed,  that  his  name  may  well  bring  you  a  theme 
for  the  hour.  Of  course  he  was  not  a  president  or  a  king  or  a 
genius,  but  he  was  great  enough  to  justify  the  memories  and  reflec- 
tions of  a  sacred  morning  in  a  sacred  place  ........ 

There  is  no  demand  for  a  funeral  discourse;  no  call  for  your 
tears;  but  it  seems  a  good  morning  for  marking  how  well  this 
absent  clergyman  may  illustrate  for  our  generations  what  is  meant 
or  should  be  meant  by  the  broad  American  clergyman.  For  a 

41 


generation  this  type  of  preacher  has  been  alluded  to  as  to  come 
or  coming;  alluded  to  with  ridicule  by  some,  by  some  with  hope. 

In  our  land  to  which  the  broad  American  clergyman  has  not 
yet  come,  and  in  whose  future  that  kind  of  preacher  stands  in 
misty  outline,  this  Dr.  Noyes  seemed  a  kind  of  good  substitute  for 
the  something  better,  but  long  delayed.  Society  does  not  sit  down 
and  wait  for  its  ideals  to  come.  "  Life  is  short,  but  art  is  long," 
and,  therefore,  we  all,  with  our  short  life,  must  decline  to  wait  for 
the  motions  of  a  long  art.  We  must  rally  around  something  unfin- 
ished, because  we  are  all  about  to  pass  away.  Therefore,  precious 
to  us  are  these  present  living  substitutes  for  the  ideal,  for  they  are 
here  with  us  each  morning  and  evening  of  a  life  that  cannot  be 
stopped,  and  can  be  lived  only  once 

There  was  much  in  his  own  personal  nature,  and  much  in  the 
new  era,  that  invited  him  to  live  the  life  he  lived.  His  ministry 
opened  in  his  youth  with  the  same  practical,  ethical  and  missionary 
qualities  that  marked  his  final  years.  He  did  not  quarrel  with  his 
creed;  he  selected  from  it  that  which  could  be  applied  at  once  to< 
human  conduct;  he  did  not  contradict  the  catechism ;  he  transcended 
it.  .  .  .  

Thus  the  uprising  of  these  broad  men  within  a  score  of  very 
different  sects  compels  us  to  perceive  that  they  are  issuing  from  the 
inborn  characters  of  persons,  and  .  .  .  from  the  contact  of  this 
century  with  the  person  and  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Toleration  will  form  a  large  quality  in  the  coming  clergymen 
of  most  usefulness,  not  only  because  hundreds  of  varying  opinions 
may  be  looked  upon  as  equally  honorable  to  the  holder,  but  also 
because  toleration  is  only  another  name  for  kindness  between  men. 
What  is  called  benevolence  toward  the  poor,  or  humanity  toward 
the  brutes,  or  gentleness  toward  the  sick,  or  pity  toward  the  suffer- 
ing. This  kindness,  extended  to  persons  of  many  religious  faiths, 
is  called  toleration.  It  once  existed  only  in  law,  but  it  has  become 
a  virtue  of  the  heart.  It  is  now  a  personal  ornament.  It  is  a  ten- 
derness of  the  mind.  Fenelon  possessed  it  among  the  Catholics. 
So  did  Blaise  Pascal.  Neither  of  these  men  could  have  caused  a 
Protestant  to  shed  a  tear.  We  all  think  the  opinions  of  other 
people  less  true  than  our  own,  but  when  the  heart  rises  up  and 
says:  "Oh,  Catholic,  or  oh,  Protestant,  with  all  thy  faults  I  love 
thee  still,"  this  is  toleration.  In  this  shape  of  modern  kindness 
Dr.  Noyes  went  beyond  manv  of  his  own  denomination.  To  his 

42 


Sunday  evening  lectures  some  highly  educated  and  loyal  Roman 
Catholics  went,  week  after  week,  because  it  was  well  known  to 
them  that  the  religious  truth  that  would  come  to  their  ears  would 
be  the  truth  universal, — would  be  that  Christianity  of  deed  and 
character  they  had  heard  from  the  earliest  days  of  childhood. 

The  real  "word"  of  Christ  fits  itself  to  all  persons  alike,  for  it 
was  framed  not  for  any  sect,  but  for  human  beings.  The  ideas  of 
faith,  penitence,  righteousness,  reward,  punishment,  and  immortal 
life,  concern  all  alike,  Protestants  and  Catholics,  and  so  the  reforms 
and  the  appeals  of  humanity  ask  that  the  audience  that  hears  them 
shall  have  only  an  elevated  human  nature.  When  a  mind  pos- 
sesses the  power  to  select  this  "  word"  from  the  less  noble  notions 
of  the  many  denominations,  and  when  there  comes  a  heart  that 
can  love  such  choice  doctrines  of  the  human  race,  there  comes  a 
leader  whom  all  can  hear  gladly 

Thus  did  Dr.  Noyes  preach  the  "word,"  and  whoever  sat 
before  the  pulpit  felt  that  the  truth  was  falling  around,  and  not  a 
truth  for  a  Presbyterian  alone,  but  a  truth  for  him.  Whether  the 
rainfall  was  of  fire  or  of  manna,  the  awful  or  sweet  shower  was  for 
all.  Some  Presbyterians  can  thus  preach  once  a  year,  but  that  was  a 
great  mind  that  could  thus  preach  for  a  lifetime.  When  a  clergy- 
man is  so  benevolent  that  the  children  on  the  street  run  toward 
him,  and  not  away  from  him,  then  toward  that  man  will  run  also 
all  those  older  children  that  may  belong  to  the  fireside  of  Wesley 
or  Luther  or  Rome — for  the  face  of  benevolence  is  one  and  the 
same  for  all  the  years  man  lives. 

This  unpretending  clergyman  comes  up  before  memory  to-day 
to  illustrate  the  proposition  that  the  ideal  preacher  of  the  continent 
need  not  be  a  genius,  nor  a  poet,  nor  a  brilliant  essayist,  nor  a 
skillful  rhetorician.  It  should  be  a  great  relief  of  the  heart  to 
know  this;  for  what  would  the  ten  thousand  towns  and  cities  do  if 
their  religious  leaders  had  to  come  in  the  nature  of  a  Fenelon,  a 
Bossuet,  a  Robert  Hall,  a  Thomas  Chalmers  or  a  Channing? 
Those  types  of  mind  are  so  few,  and  in  their  coming  so  uncertain, 
that  they  are  useful  only  as  inspirations  to  the  real  creators  of 
Christendom  and  civilization.  The  supply  of  sensational  preachers 
in  both  a  good  and  a  bad  sense  is  so  small  that  the  Nation  can  not 
expect  much  from  those  two  types  of  brain  and  soul.  The  Nation 
demands  ten  thousand  of  good  pulpit  toilers,  and  therefore  it  must 
expect  them  in  that  kind  of  merit  that  is  more  abundant  than 
genius  or  brilliancy.  The  crop  of  genius  is  too  small  to  meet  the 
public  demand. 

43 


To  meet  the  crisis,  nature  intervenes  with  that  which  is  next 
akin;  with  that  most  satisfactory  substitute  found  in  solidity  of 
thought,  in  breath  of  knowledge  and  of  taste,  in  earnestness,  con- 
scientiousness and  piety.  Power  is  much  more  abundant  than 
brilliancy.  It  is  many  shaped,  and  can  equip  an  army  of  working 
minds  each  with  different  armor.  The  men  of  poetry  and  creative 
talents  are  few,  the  men  of  power,  many 

Taking  this  wide  and  truthful  survey  of  eloquence  or  spoken 
power,  it  is  at  once  seen  that  the  ideal  clergyman  will  come  in 
some  one  of  the  shapes  of  this  force  of  mind  upon  mind.  Sincerity, 
wisdom,  piety,  learning,  sympathy,  and  goodness  will  so  meet  in 
this  laborer  that  people  will  hear  him  gladly,  without  asking 
whence  comes  the  persuasion  that  fills  their  intellects.  Thus  was 
Dr.  Noyes  a  form  of  eloquence,  for,  if  for  twenty  years  the  old 
and  the  young  followed  his  argument  whither  it  went;  if  the 
church  became  more  and  more  full;  if  the  young  professed  their 
faith  under  the  influence  of  that  kind  and  yet  compact  logic;  if 
men  changed  their  course  of  life  for  the  better  under  the  motives 
which  those  lips  expressed;  then  there  is  no  need  for  a  definition 
of  eloquence,  the  definition  being  made  untimely  by  the  life-long 
fact.  This  is  that  simple  fact  of  eloquence  in  which  can  come  a 
band  of  gospel  brothers  who  shall  be  able  to  lead  the  cities,  towns, 
and  villages  whither  the  people  should  all  go.  It  is  not  a  cheap 
eloquence.  It  corpes  by  labor,  by  literature,  by  art,  by  taste,  by 
wide  reading, by  warmth  of  heart,  and  by  faith  in  God;  but,  while 
not  easily  found,  it  is  not  so  far  away  and  so  hopeless  as  that  kind 
of  speech  which  has  been  ascribed  to  only  a  few  names  in  the  wide 
reach  of  history. 

In  this  man,  Dr.  Noyes,  as  now  recalled,  was  there  such  a  fore- 
shadowing of  the  kind  of  Christian  preacher  and  pastor  our  coun- 
try needs,  and  the  type  it  is  making  in  its  silent  laboratory.  The 
cons  ruction  of  this  desirable  laborer  is  going  on  in  all  the  denom- 
inations, and  no  one  can  tell  from  what  church  will  issue  the  most 
and  the  best  of  these  true  evangelists.  The  age  is  using  each  sect 
for  its  shop  and  as  the  source  of  its  material.  It  will  require  all 
the  denominations  to  supply  enough  of  these  men  to  meet  the 
need  of  the  future.  The  levy  will  be  laid  equally,  for  all  the  sects 
are  about  equally  rich  and  equally  poor.  The  riches  and  the  pov- 
erty exist  without  respect  of  creeds. 

This  forerunner  of  the  ideal  pastor  reached  out  toward  the 
world  of  literature,  as  well  as  toward  the  department  oF  faith  and 
piety.  He  was  active  in  the  realm  of  books.  He  inclined  his  ear 

44 


toward  music  with  full  zeal.  The  books  and  the  arts  informed  his 
mind,  awakened,  inspired  and  enriched  it,  and  gave  his  heart  the 
joy  and  the  vivacity  of  children  in  May  and  June.  He  went  away 
from  earth  too  soon,  if  we  consult  human  feelings;  but  he  was  such 
a  servant  of  God,  so  faithful  and  so  full  of  worship,  that  his  death 
must  be  looked  upon  as  coming  to  pass  in  the  full  presence  of  One 
who  does  not  permit  His  children  to  meet  with  any  event  that 
comes  too  soon  or  too  late.  To  us  all  the  far  future  seems  the 
better  time  for  the  death  of  self,  or  of  one  beloved,  but  the  best 
time  for  a  going  from  this  world  is  known  only  to  Him,  who  alone 
knows  what  is  life  and  what  is  death,  and  what  the  home  beyond. 


from  ff)C 

I.  -  THE    EVANSTON    INDEX,   JANUARY    24TH. 

Such  facts  as  these  go  1o  make  up  the  merest  outline  of  a  bio- 
graphical sketch.  They  are,  however,  hard,  dry  and  cold,  and 
give  but  the  slightest  intimation  of  the  richness  and  nobility  of  the 
life  which  it  has  seemed  best  to  an  all-wise  Providence  to  cut  short. 
His  life  was  a  grand  triumph.  He  so  lived  that  he  was  as  ready 
as  mortal  man  could  be  to  stand  confidently  in  the  awful  piesence 
of  his  Maker.  He  so  lived  that  there  stand  to  his  credit  many 
lives  made  better  by  his  influence  and  example.  He  so  lived  that 
his  memory  is  a  blessing  to  the  people.  He  so  lived  that  when  he 
died  he  was  mourned  not  only  by  those  who  had  striven  to  follow 
his  noble  example,  but  was  sorrowed  for  by  the  careless  and  indif- 
ferent, to  whom  his  purity  was  a  reproach. 

Dr.  Noyes  will  live  long  in  the  history  of  Evanston.  He  had 
that  peculiar  kindliness  and  that  wonderful  genial  disposition  which 
endeared  him  to  the  masses  —  manly  as  a  man  should  be,  tender 
and  loving  as  women  are.  He  was  no  mere  theorist  or  theoretical 
theologian.  He  was  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  community  ; 
was  bold  and  pronounced  in  his  political  opinions,  and  wielded  a 
practised  and  vigorous  pen.  His  was  no  idle,  dreamy  Christianity. 
It  was  practical,  simple,  honest.  He  knew  the  world,  sympathized 
with  mortal  failings,  and  yet  in  his  own  life  and  character  was  an 
incentive  to  goodness.  His  sermons  were  like  the  man,  plain, 
simple,  often  blunt,  abounding  in  love  for  his  fellows,  and  yet 
abating  not  a  particle  from  the  doctrine  of  love  and  mercy  preached 
from  the  cross  itself. 

Men  pass  away  and  the  world  forgets  their  names.  Some  few 
are  preserved  in  the  pages  of  earthly  histories,  and  of  these  few 

45 


quite  as  many  are  noted  for  failings  as  for  virtues.  This  man, 
whose  memory  is  now  fresh  and  green  among  us,  may  have  no 
page  in  the  ephemeral  histories  of  men,  but  his  name  is  written  in 
letters  of  gold  on  the  eternal  tablets  of  the  omnipotent  God. 

II. THE    CHICAGO    TRIBUNE,   JANUARY    I5TH. 

There  was,  perhaps,  no  clergyman   in  Northern  Illinois  more 
highly  respected  by  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  than  Dr. 
Noyes.     Especially  was  this  true  in  Evanston,  where   he  labored 
as  a  minister  for  twenty  years.     He  went  there  a  young  man,  and 
by  his  efforts   largely  helped  to  build  up  a  prosperous  and  inde- 
pendent church.    .     .     .     .     .     .     While  he  was  a  strong  believer 

in  the  Presbyterian  faith,  his  sermons  were  seldom  confined  to 
doctrinal  points.  For  his  texts,  living  issues  were  chosen.  For 
hypocrisy  he  had  an  utter  contempt,  and  was  fearless  in  denouncing 
all  forms  of  it.  Sin  he  hated,  but  for  the  sinner  he  had  charity 
and  forbearance.  For  the  higher  types  of  Christian  manhood  and 
womanhood,  for  morality  and  human  kindness,  he  had  natural  and 
profound  sympathy.  An  old  friend  speaking  of  Dr.  Noyes  yester- 
day, said:  "He  was  a  good  father  and  husband,  an  upright  man, 
a  charitable  teacher,  and  an  honest  citizen.  What  more  could  be 
said  of  any  man?"  Dr.  Noyes  was  a  Christian  gentleman  of  sin- 
cere and  deep  convictions,  but  broad  in  his  views  and  tolerant  of 
the  opinions  of  others,  even  when  they  differed  widely  from  his 
own.  He  had  a  peculiar  charm  and  grace  of  manner  which 
endeared  him  to  all  who  knew  him,  and  among  laymen  he  was  one 
of  the  most  popular  clergymen  ever  known  in  Chicago.  Yet  he 
never  made  any  sacrifice  of  his  principles  to  gain  popularity,  nor 
abated  anything  from  his  dignity  as  a  man  or  a  clergyman. 

There  is  not  a  man,  woman  or  child  in  Evanston  or  South 
Evanston  but  sincerelv  mourns  the  death  of  this  good  man.  Tele- 
grams and  letters  poured  into  the  bereaved  household  all  day  long, 
with  messages  of  respect  and  inquiry,  and  later,  of  condolence. 
Dr.  Noyes  was  as  well  known  among  the  lowly  as  among  the 
higher  classes. 

Dr.  Noyes,  even  at  the  beginning  of  his  clerical  career,  when  a 
pastor  was  expected  to  confine  himself  mainly  to  creed  and  the 
elucidation  of  knotty  doctrinal  questions,  refused  to  be  held  down 
from  the  discussion  of  live  questions.  At  first  this  created  nd  little 
dissatisfaction,  but  finally  the  honesty  of  his  purpose  and  the 

46 


bravery  with  which  he  combatted  old-time  prejudices  showed  to 
the  good  people  of  Laporte  that  they  had  a  teacher  among  them 
of  more  than  ordinary  ability  and  far-sightedness. 

EDITORIAL    PARAGRAPH. 

The  death  of  the  Rev.  George  C.  Noyes  deprives  this  city— 
for,  though  he  lived  in  Evanston,  he  was  a  Chicagoan — of  one 
of  its  bravest  and  truest  citizens,  and  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
one  of  its  ablest  and  hardest  working  ministers.  He  was  one  of 
the  best  gifts  of  New  England  to  the  West.  He  had  the  morality 
and  energy  of  the  Puritan,  but  none  of  his  fanaticism.  He  had  a 
breadth  of  mind  and  width  of  culture  which  emancipated  him  from 
the  narrowing  influences  of  sect,  and  thus  added  a  hundredfold  to 
his  influence  among  men.  A  sincere  friend  of  temperance,  he 
preferred  practical  rather  than  impracticable  methods  of  promoting 
it,  and  hence  was  an  early  and  constant  friend  of  high  license,  and 
an  opponent  of  political  prohibition,  the  uselessness  of  which 
offended  the  practical  side  of  his  nature.  A  man  of  great  executive 
ability,  he  found  his  place  among  the  workers  of  the  church  rather 
than  among  its  orators,  and  for  that  reason  will  be  missed  far  more 
than  one  whose  name  was  more  familiar  to  the  public.  He  died 
too  soon  for  the  community  and  the  church,  but  he  died  with  no 
enemies  and  with  many  friends,  with  a  record  without  a  blot,  and 
with  a  serene  confidence  that  his  future  life  would  be  as  happy  as 
his  blameless  past. 

III. — THE    INTERIOR,    CHICAGO,  JANUARY    24TH. 

TO  GEORGE  C.  NOYES. 

Great  heart !  what  change  of  place, 

Of  state  and  circumstance, 
What  added  gifts  and  grace, 

By  which  the  soul  to  enhance, 
The  touch  of  death  may  show — 

I  cannot  tell — but  this 
Beyond  all  doubt  I  know  : 

Where'er  thy  dwelling  is, 
Within  what  pearly  gates, 

Beside  what  jasper  sea, 
Upon  what  golden  streets — 

Thou  art  the  same  to  me. 

Amid  the  flash  of  wings, 

Beside  the  seraph  throng, 
Unawed  among  the  kings 

Of  saintly  thought  or  song, 

47 


Not  changed  by  any  glow 

That  falleth  from  thy  crown, 
Thy  rugged  features  show 

The  man  that  I  have  known — 
Unchanged — though  feet  trod 

The  dimness  here  below, 
Along  bright  ways  of  God 

Flash  upward,  joyful  now. 

i 
Some  souls  there  are  whom  death 

May  change  in  form  or  face, 
Upon  whom  heaven  may  wreathe 

A  strange  and  distant  grace. 
But  thou — so  straight  hast  gone 

The  way  of  heaven's  will, 
I  see  thee  walking  on — 

The  same  strong  spirit  still. 
The  saint  shall  not  hide  so 

The  human  soul  I  knew — 
'Mid  heaven's  blaze  I'll  know, 

And  greet  thee — fellow  true. 
NEW  YORK.  C.  L.  THOMPSON. 

EDITORIAL,    BY    DR.    WM.    C.    GRAY, 

Our  most  familiar  friend  has  gone  to  the  other  side.  Dr. 
Noyes  came  very  frequently  to  The  Interior  office,  and  the  greet- 
ing was  always  as  familiar  as  it  could  be  between  brothers,  and 
nearly  always  there  was  some  pleasant  chaffing.  As  I  write  this, 
a  line  comes  in  from  Dr.  C.  L.  Thompson,  with  the  poem  printed 
above,  which  is  so  apt  to  what  I  was  about  to  write  that  I  will 
quote  from  it.  After  speaking  of  the  distress  which  the  death  of 
his  beloved  friend  has  brought  upon  him,  Dr.  Thompson  recalls 
the  last  interview  with  him:  '•  I  think  the  last  time  I  saw  him  was 
at  the  Assembly.  You  remember  his  sally.  When  he  said  to 
you:  'You  are  not  a  minister;'  you  replied,  'Thank  heaven  for 
that.'  He  retorted,  '  We  do.'" 

He  liked  to  unbend,  and  enjoyed  very  greatly  the  freedom  of 
perfect  friendship,  and  yet,  in  near  a  score  of  years  of  intimacy,  I 
do  not  remember  ever  to  have  talked  with  him  when  the  by-play 
of  humor  did  not  deepen  into  serious  talk.  There  were  depths  of 
feeling  and  of  wisdom  below  the  sparkle  of  the  foam,  which  were 
always  apparent.  He  was  profoundly  serious  and  in  earnest.  He 
bore  upon  his  heart  the  heaviest  burden  that  can  befall  a  loving 
heart,  the  long  continued  invalidism  of  his  wife,  who  was  a  beau- 
tiful and  charming  woman.  He  was  a  burden-bearer  for  others, 

48 


and  his  warm  and  widely  extended  sympathies  drew  upon  him  a 
great  task  of  toil  and  care.  He  was  as  candid  as  the  cloudless  sky. 
He  did  not  hesitate  to  reprove,  and  yet  his  reproofs  never  left  a 
sting  or  sediment  of  bitterness.  This  candor  and  faithfulness  made 
him  of  the  highest  value  as  a  friend.  No  one  has  so  freely  and 
unhesitatingly  spoken  to  us  of  our  faults  as  he  did — and  we  there- 
fore held  him  as  the  most  genuine  and  the  most  useful  of  friends. 
This  candor,  tempered  with  wise  discretion,  and  revealing  a  very 
sensible  and  experienced  mind,  gave  him  influence  over  men  which 
they  felt  to  be  preponderating.  He  never  trimmed,  never  dodged, 
never  took  an  unfair  advantage  in  controversy,  nor  in  anything 
else.  He  was  a  profound  Christian;  had  absolute  confidence  in 
the  power  of  the  gospel  to  do  all  for  man  that  can  be  done  for  him 
in  this  world ;  and  had  no  patience  with  any  superficial  substitutes 
for  the  gospel  in  reforms.  His  abounding  charity  made  him  very 
tolerant,  and  his  sympathies  were  quick  and  intense  with  those  who 
were  wronged.  No  minister  was  so  well  known  and  so  univer- 
sally beloved,  in  and  out  of  his  denomination,  in  the  city  and  in  the 
country  round  about.  He  was  the  home  missionary  bishop  of  the 
West — working  arduously  year  after  year  at  the  head  of  the  Home 
Mission  Committees  of  the  Presbyteiy  and  Synod.  It  was  the 
judgment  of  the  men  of  widest  intelligence,  both  ministers  and  lay- 
men, in  the  West  and  Northwest,  that  no  man  had  such  qualifica- 
tions for  the  Secretaryship  of  our  Board  of  Home  Missions — that 
no  one  among  us  could  render  such  distinguished  service  to  the 
church.  This  was  the  opinion  of  so  conservative  and  large  a  man 
as  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  M.  Moore,  and  he  often  expressed  sur- 
prise that  Dr.  Noyes  was  not  called  to  that  work.  The  Synod  of 
Illinois  gave  formal  expression  to  it,  and  our  ministers  in  Dakota, 
Montana,  Washington  and  Idaho  were  very  desirous  that  his  ser- 
vices should  be  secured.  Dr.  Noyes  was  greatly  comforted  in  his 
wife's  affliction  by  the  beautiful  fidelity  to  him  of  his  daughter  and 
his  six  sons.  He  many  times  alluded  to  this  in  his  conversations 
with  us,  and  said  that  they  had  never  given  him  an  hour  of  solici- 
tude or  distrust — they  were  a  perpetual  joy  to  him.  The 
bereaved  ones  have  the  right  to  take  consolation  from  the  fact  that 
they  were  all  to  their  father  that  children  could  be,  while  he  lived. 
The  funeral  was  conducted  in  the  church  to  which  he  has  so  long 
ministered.  Distinguished  men  in  all  departments  of  business  went 
to  Evanston  to  pay  their  respects  to  his  memory.  The  church  was 
banked  with  costly  flowers,  which  yet  were  arranged  with  the 
most  exquisite  taste.  Drs.  Patterson,  Stryker  and  McPherson 

49 


conducted  the  services  with  a  modesty  of  eulogium  which  was 
most  impressive — the  very  forbearance  at  one  point  producing  an 
effect  that  went  far  beyond  what  the  highest  reach  of  oratory  could 
have  done.  There  was  too  much  grief  and  tenderness  in  the 
hearts  of  the  speakers  to  permit  any  thing  rhetorical. 

LETTER    FROM    D*R.    DINSMORE. 

BLOOM  INGTON,  January  15,  1889. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND:  I  was  greatly  pained  to  read  in  this  morn- 
ing's paper  a  notice  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Noyes.  I  became 
acquainted  with  him  a  number  of  years  ago.  I  soon  found  that  I 
had  for  him  a  very  sincere  respect,  which  quickly  grew  into  a 
warm  attachment.  He  was  a  very  manly  man,  of  strong  person- 
ality, such  as  could  not  fail  to  impress  any  one  who  came  close  to 
him.  Calm  and  self-contained,  he  had  great  influence  among  his 
brethren.  His  death  is  a  great  loss,  not  only  to  his  congregation 
and  the  region  about  Chicago,  but  to  the  whole  church,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  Synod  of  Illinois.  He  had  a  statesman-like  conception 
of  the  needs  of  the  work  in  this  Synod,  and  how  to  meet  them. 
He  had  a  profound  sense  of  the  urgent  importance  of  pushing  the 
work  vigorously,  and  at  once,  and  was  unresting  in  his  efforts  to- 
get  it  done.  He  had  stalwart  convictions  on  many  subjects,  and 
was  perfectly  fearless  in  maintaining  them,  yet  he  was  so  fair  in 
his  methods  and  so  suave  in  manner,  that  he  made  few,  if  any, 
personal  enemies.  He  could  differ  and  warmly  debate  with  you,, 
without  quarrelling.  He  had  much  practical  sagacity  and  shrewd- 
ness, without  the  slightest  taint  of  low  cunning,  or  tricKy  manage- 
ment. He  was  a  strong  man,  large-minded  and  loyal-hearted,  a 
sincere  and  humble  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  faithful  servant 
of  his  Master  to  the  end.  I  loved  and  honored  him  much,  and  am 
very,  very  sorry  that  we  shall  see  his  face  no  more.  I  wish  to 
bring  this  little  tribute  to  his  memory.  Sincerely  yours, 

JOHN  W.  DINSMORE. 

IV. — THE    EVANGELIST,  NEW    YORK,  JANUARY  2^TH. — EXTRACTS 
FROM    EDITORIAL. 

The  death  of  Dr.  Noyes  has  been  followed  by  unusual  tokens 
of  sorrow,  respect,  and  love,  such  as  only  a  genuine  life,  devoted 
to  the  highest  calling  known  among  men,  could  have  called  forth. 
The  ties  between  pastor  and  people  were  peculiarly  strong,  minis- 
tering as  he  did  to  the  intellect  and  the  affections.  He  touched  the 

5° 


entire  community  at  many  points.    ...... 

Did  space  suffice  we  might  here  properly  add  our  own  impres- 
sions of  Dr.  Noyes'  excellence  as  a  writer,  as  displayed  in  these 
columns  on  a  great  variety  of  topics.  Few  or  none  excelled  him 
in  information,  in  clearness  of  statement,  and  that  transparent  sin- 
cerity which  holds  the  respect  of  even  the  unconvinced  reader. 
But,  better  than  anything  we  can  say  of  our  friend  and  corre- 
spondent are  the  several  spontaneous  tributes  to  him,  which  have 
been  sent  us,  and  which  we  here  append  in  the  order  in  which 
they  come  to  hand. 

tetieeg. 

FROM    KEV.   J.    A.    WIGHT,  D.  D. 

A  telegram  warned  me  of  the  death  of  this  beloved  brother, 
who  departed  this  life  on  Monday  afternoon,  at  Evanston,  111., 
where  his  funeral  occurs  to-day, Jan.  iyth,  attended  by  ministers  of 
all  denominations,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  W.  Patterson  conducting  the 
services. 

The  readers  of  The  Evangelist  will  surely  miss  "  Clement," 
whose  letters  have  been  frequent  of  late  years  in  its  columns.  Dr. 
Noyes  and  myself  were  neighbors  years  ago,  commencing  our 
ministerial  life  very  nearly  together,  though  his  years  were  much 
the  fewer.  His  age  at  death  is  but  fifty -five.  His  first  charge 
was  at  Laporte,  Ind.,  where  he  was  pastor  ten  years.  Thence  he 
removed  to  Evanston,  111.,  and  recently  completed  twenty  years  of 
pastoral  work  there.  The  church  numbered  about  thirty-five 
members  at  his  beginning,  but  has  grown  to  nearly  500  at  present, 
and  has  become  two  churches  in  place  of  one. 

Few  men  are  more  widely  and  favorably  known  in  the  inte- 
rior region  than  Dr.  Noyes.  He  was,  I  believe,  the  oldest  mem- 
ber in  continuous  pastoral  work,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Chicago. 
He  moved  among  the  strong  men  of  the  Church  anywhere,  was 
entirely  independent  in  his  opinions,  and  had  always  the  courage 
of  his  convictions.  He  moved  in  no  narrow  sphere,  and  his  intel- 
ligence in  all  directions  was  ample  and  accurate.  His  mastery  of 
facts  in  any  direction  where  his  interest  carried  him,  was  conspicu- 
ous. His  position  on  the  subject  of  temperance  is  well  known  to 
readers  of  The  Evangelist.  His  interest  in  music,  in  literature, 
and  in  politics,  and  in  all  that  the  Church  and  the  world  together 
regards  as  progress,  was  manifest.  He  was  eminently  a  social 
man,  and  was  everywhere  welcome.  His  friends  were  confined  to 


U.  OF  ILL  LIB. 


no  denomination.  Evanston  is  mainly  a  Methodist  town,  being 
the  seat  of  their  University,  but  he  was  a  welcome  friend  with 
them.  Being  but  twelve  miles  from  Chicago,  he  was  weekly  in 
the  city,  and  took  interest  in  all  that  concerned  the  well-being  of 
the  Church  there.  He  had  traveled  somewhat  widely  in  this  coun- 
try, and  once  visited  Mexico,  whence  he  wrote  letters  of  value 
which  many  must  remember.  His  interest  in  missions,  especially 
home  missions,  was  decided  and  unflagging. 

As  a  preacher  he  excelled  in  felicitous  statement  of  common 
truths,  and  in  bringing  recondite  truths  into  familiar  and  practical 
aspects,  and  his  audiences  were  always  large  and  interested.  He  was 
a  graduate  of  Illinois  College,  and  of  Union  Theological  Seminary. 

Dr.  Noyes  was  a  man  of  no  isms.  He  hated  shams,  and  what- 
ever savored  of  hypocrisy.  He  was  possessed  of  a  decided  moral 
earnestness,  though  he  made  no  show  of  it;  nor  was  his  exhibition 
of  it  one  of  emotional  emphasis  and  clatter,  which  often  passes  for 
earnestness. 

Thus  pass  away  the  correspondents  of  The  Evangelist — 
Gillett,  Smythe,  Page,  Moore,  Noyes.  The  old  stock  of  them 
grows  fewer.  But  the  future  is  full  of  men. 

Dr.  Noyes  married  the  daughter  of  Hon.  David  A.  Smith,  of 
Jacksonville,  111.  She  is  the  mother  of  six  sons  and  one  daughter, 
all  living,  the  youngest  fifteen  years  of  age. 

AMBROSE. 

FROM  PROF.  E.  D.  MORRIS. 

The  telegraph  has  flashed  across  the  continent  the  tidings  of 
the  decease  of  Dr.  Noyes,  the  accomplished  and  admirable  1 
"  Clement"  of  The  Evangelist,  which  occurred  at  his  home,  in 
Evanston,  after  a  brief  week  of  illness  from  pneumonia,  on  last 
Monday.  To  thousands  of  hearts  the  story  will  carry  grief,  real 
and  profound.  To  his  bereaved  family  and  church,  the  event 
brings  a  sorrow  far  deeper  than  all  speech.  Dr.  Noyes  was  in  his 
fifty-sixth  year,  and  in  the  prime  of  his  powers  and  usefulness — a 
man  of  large  ability  to  help  and  bless  others,  and  of  broad  and 
genial  sympathies;  widely  conversant  with  affairs  in  both  Church 
and  State,  and  ever  ready  to  throw  his  influence  into  the  scale  on 
the  side  of  right,  of  truth,  of  liberty.  He  will  be  greatly  missed 
by  his  ministerial  associates  in  Chicago  and  the  Northwest,  and  by 
none  more  than  by  the  honored  father  of  the  Church,  Rev.  Dr. 
Patterson,  his  neighbor  and  intimate  friend,  upon  whom,  as  The 
Tribune  reports,  the  painful  responsibility  of  the  funeral  services 

52 


are  to  be  devolved.  From  the  happy  circle  of  collaboratcurs  in 
'/'//<•  ErtiH^clist,  Dr.  Noyes  will  be  no  less  missed;  for  his  grace- 
ful and  vigorous  pen  was  always  wielded  in  these  columns  in  a 
manner  as  attractive  as  it  was  commanding.  Proper  tributes  will 
doubtless  be  paid  him  in  many  formal  ways  and  in  many  places. 
Let  me  hasten  now,  even  while  my  eyes  are  full  of  tears,  to 
express  the  personal  grief  with  which  I  have  just  read  the  story  of 
his  death.  It  is  but  two  short  months  since  I  spent  a  vivid  and 
happy  hour  with  him,  full  of  friendly  talk  on  many  themes,  in  his 
own  pleasant  home  at  Evanston.  How  laughingly  we  parted  ! 
And  how  little  either  dreamed  that  he  was  grasping  the  hand  of  a 
brother  for  the  last  time — on  earth  ! 

E.  D.  MORRIS. 
LANE  SEMINARY,  Jan.  16. 

FROM    REV.    DR.   JAMES    MCLEOD. 

Dear  Mr.  Editor:  Your  brief  reference  to  Dr.  Noyes  has 
touched  my  heart.  I  have  known  him  for  eighteen  years,  and  I 
never  knew  a  nobler,  truer,  manlier  man.  In  one  notable  case  I 
stoutly  opposed  him,  but  he  defended  his  cause  with  great  ability, 
and  this,  coupled  with  his  uniform  Christian  courtesy,  won  for  him 
the  respect  of  his  brethren  who  differed  with  him.  He  was  as  true 
to  his  convictions  as  a  needle  to  the  pole,  and  he  hated  duplicity. 

He  was  a  man  of  peace,  but  when  the  occasion  demanded  it  he 
could  fight,  and  he  could  strike  hard,  but  he  took  care  never  to 
deal  a  foul  blow.  He  would  neither  play  false,  nor  falsely  win. 
His  was  a  generous  and  magnanimous  spirit.  More  than  once  I 
have  heard  him  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of  his  chief  opponent 
in  the  controversy  to  which  I  have  referred.  He  differed  with 
him,  but  he  differed  with  him  like  a  Christian  gentleman,  and  I 
am  sure  Prof.  Patton  respected  him  both  for  his  integrity  and  his 
ability. 

There  never  was  a  more  devoted  husband  and  father;  and  the 
church  of  which  he  was  long  the  faithful  pastor,  has  good  reason 
to  mourn  his  loss.  As  pastor,  counselor,  and  friend,  he  was 
beloved  by  his  flock,  and  that  love  was  cordially  reciprocated.  But 
he  is  gone.  He  has  fallen  asleep.  He  loved  the  Sayior,  and 
thank  God  for  the  good  hope  that  he  is  now  with  the  Savior  whom 
he  loved.  Absent  from  the  body,  he  is  at  home  with  the  Lord; 
yes,  at  home,  and  that  forever. 

53 


"  Forever  with  the  Lord  ; 

Amen,  so  let  it  be, 
Life  from  the  dead  is  in  that  word, 
'Tis  immortality." 

The  New  York  Evangelist  will  seem  lonely  to  me  without  a 
letter  now  and  then  from  "  Clement,"  but  we  will  meet  again. 

"  Eternal  power  shall  still  divide 
The  eternal  soul  from  all  beside  ; 
And  I  shall  know  him  when  we  meet." 

Ever  yours, 

JAMES  McLEoo. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  Jan.  16,  1889. 

FROM    REV.   JAMES    H.    TAYLOR,  D.  D. 

I  have  just  picked  up  and  laid  down  the  last  Evangelist.  Dr. 
Noyes  gone!  Are  those  black  lines  indeed  for  him?  Strange, 
strange  it  seems  to  so  think !  I  glance  at  other  paragraphs,  but  my 
eyes  wander  back  to  those  lines.  They  are  indeed  around  the 
name  of  my  co-worker.  As  I  look,  they  seem  to  be  around  my 
heart,  and  drawing  tighter.  I  have  lost  a  friend.  I  am  in  the 
same  front  line  of  battle.  He  has  fallen  at  my  side.  And  yet  I 
can  hardly  stop  long  enough  to  look  fairly  into  his  paled  face. 
The  battle  goes  right  on.  Here  are  the  pastoral  calls  commanding 
me  this  afternoon,  and  the  sermons  for  the  Sabbath.  He  was  as 
busy  as  the  busiest,  yet  he  is  at  rest.  His  work  is  done.  We  all 
thought  it  done  once  in  the  Seminary,  as  he  was  suddenly  pros- 
trated with  pulmonary  hemorrhage ;  but  he  revived,  and  has 
labored  uninterruptedly  for  thirty  years  now.  His  last  seed  is 
planted.  Will  he  look  back  to  see  it  sprout  and  fruit?  He  sowed 
no  tares  of  mere  speculation. 

He  and  I  studied  side  by  side  in  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
New  York;  then  worked  together  in  Chicago  Presbytery  eight 
years.  Even  in  temper,  sound  in  judgment,  cheerful  in  spirit, 
faithful  to  trust,  patient  in  tribulation,  steady  in  his  faith,  he  was  a 
friend  and  a  pastor,  to  be  found  right  where  you  would  have 
expected  to  find  him.  He  lived  no  tangential  life.  Christ  was  his 
center  of  attraction,  and  he  was  content  to  revolve  about  Him.  He 
sent  up  no  skyrockets  to  provoke  a  popular  stare.  But  if  not  bril- 
liant, neither  was  he  tame  or  foolish.  Refined  to  a  rare  degree  in 
literary  taste,  he  was  also  thoughtful,  wise,  and  strong. 

The  intimacy  of  our  acquaintance  prompts  me  to  write  more  of 

54 


dear  brother  Noyes.  But  I  refrain,  Anticipating  that  Dr.  R.  W. 
Patterson,  his  loving  friend,  long-time  co-Presbyter,  and  late 
parishioner,  will  cover  the  whole  ground.  I  will  hasten  to  my 
work  lest  my  time  be  short. 

JAMES  H.  TAYLOR. 
ROME,  NEW  YORK,  Jan.  18,  1889. 

FROM    PRESIDENT    E.    L.    KURD. 

Can  it  be  that  our  beloved  brother  "  Clement"  is  gone?  The 
telegram  stirred  most  tender  chords  at  the  same  time  of  affection 
and  sorrow,  as  it  told  me  that  George  C.  Noyes  is  gone. 

Thirty-two  years  ago  a  class  were  about  leaving  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  Albert  Barnes,  of  Philadelphia,  led  us  in 
prayer.  We  went  through  the  appointed  closing  exercises,  and 
bade  good-bye  to  revered  professors,  including  the  now  sainted 
Drs.  Ed.  Robinson,  T.  H.  Skinner,  Henry  B.  Smith,  and  Roswell 
D.  Hitchcock.  In  the  class  were  Jackson  G.  Coffing,  soon  after- 
ward murdered  on  his  mission  field ;  Dr.  J.  B.  Bonar,  now  of  Mar- 
quette,  Mich.;  Dr.  C.  S.  Armstrong,  now  of  Jackson,  Mich.;  Dr. 
Alexander  McLean,  now  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society; 
Hermon  C.  Riggs,  and  others,  among  whom  was  the  writer.  In 
leaving  the  Seminary  to  go  to  our  respective  home  and  foreign 
fields,  we  parted  with  one  fellow-student,  whom  we  left  in  the 
middle  class,  with  special  warmth  of  affection.  He  had  a  great 
heart,  was  as  tender  as  a  child,  yet  with  as  strong  a  spirit  as  a  giant, 
with  a  well-poised  intellect,  and  one  which  even  then  marked  him 
for  a  leading  mind. 

When  he  graduated  from  College,  a  leading  man  who  heard 
his  oration,  said  "  There  is  a  young  man  who  will  be  a  leading 
pastor  in  some  strong,  conservative  church."  Even  during  our 
short  Seminary  course  we  could  see  marks  of  the  fulfilment  of  this, 
while  the  main  impression  made  upon  us  doubtless  was  that  of  his 
most  lovable  and  companionable  qualities. 

Keeping  these  constantly  through  his  life,  how  his  whole  career 
has  justified  the  prediction!  In  his  pastoral  charge  at  Laporte, 
Ind.,  and  then  in  his  pastorate  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  of 
the  large  church  at  Evanston,  111.,  from  which  his  death  now  takes 
him,  he  has  shown  himself  an  able,  successful,  and  leading  pastor. 
In  the  strength  and  clearness  of  intellect,  and  yet  with  the  greatest 
tenderness,  poise,  and  magnanimity,  he  has  met  the  great  questions 
which  have  arisen  in  the  Church  at  large,  while  he  has  taken  hold 
with  such  strong  hands  of  the  great  work  of  home  missions  in  the 

55 


large  territory  of  Illinois,  without  diminishing  aught  from  his 
indefatigable  work  as  pastor,  and  this  often  amid  great  sorrow,  as 
to  show  that  he  was  truly  "  Great  Heart";  and  we  can  but  say 
a  beloved  brother  and  a  leader  has  fallen  in  Israel.  God  grant 
that  his  mantle  has  fallen  upon  another  like  him. 

E.  L.  KURD. 
BLACKBURN  UNIVERSITY,  Jan.  19,  1889. 

V. — THE    ADVANCE,    CHICAGO,   JANUARY    24TH. 

Dr.  George  C.  Noyes,  who  has  been  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Evanston,  Chicago,  for  the  past  twenty  years,  and  who, 
amid  universal  love  and  sorrow,  was  borne  to  his  burial  Thursday 
of  last  week,  was  a  man  who  will  be  missed.  In  many  aspects  of 
his  nature  and  character  a  grand  man,  and  with  remarkable  capacity 
for  friendships,  he  had  endeared  himself  exceedingly  to  a  great 
number  of  persons.  Of  stalwart  frame,  open  countenance,  kindly 
and  manly  bearing,  into  whatever  company  he  came  he  brought 
good  cheer,  and  when  he  left  made  one  feel  that  his  very  pi'esence 
there  had  been  a  power  and  a  blessing. 

The  church,  which,  at  his  coming,  had  thirty-six  members,  now 
has  nearly  five  hundred,  and  is  sorely  bereaved.  In  the  pulpit,  the 
prayer-meeting,  the  home,  in  social  gatherings  or  in  high  circles  of 
art  and  literary  culture,  among  ministers  or  laymen,  at  home  or 
abroad,  he  was  always  as  one  at  home  and  in  his  element. 

A  farmer's  son,  born  in  New  Hampshire,  he  came,  while  still 
a  boy,  with  his  parents  to  Illinois.  The  same  traits  which  distin- 
guished him  as  a  man  began  to  shine  in  his  boyhood.  He  w-as 
educated  in  Illinois  College  and  in  Union  Theological  Seminary; 
but  his  real  education  went  on  continuously  to  the  last.  He  never 
outgrew  his  great  hunger  for  knowledge;  it  rather  grew  upon 
him.  And  yet  the  depth  and  accuracy  of  his  scholarship,  and  the 
range  of  his  information  were  always  greater  than  he  at  any  time 
made  manifest.  His  modesty  was  only  equaled  by  his  manliness. 

A  person  more  completely  free  from  the  power  of  mere  preju- 
dice one  rarely  sees.  While  he  knew  well  his  own  mind  and  the 
reasons  for  his  own  definite  convictions,  he  was  in  spirit  and  manner 
as  courteous  towards  those  who  might  happen  to  be  at  variance,  as 
toward  those  in  agreement,  with  his  views.  Nor  was  this  due  to 
any  spirit  of  indifference;  for  he  was  apt  to  hold  his  opinions  with 
an  intensive  sense  of  their  importance.  Utterly  loyal  to  his  own 
church  and  the  faith  and  polity  and  best  spirit  of  his  own  denomi- 
nation, he  was  at  the  same  time,  and  none  the  less,  full  of  the 

56 


heartiest  sense  of  interest  in  all  other  Christians  of  whatever  name. 
There  were  no  artificial  limits  to  the  scope  of  his  Christian  sym- 
pathies. His  indignation  at  meanness  or  wrong  and  fraud  was  as 
vigorous  and  wholesome  as  was  the  exuberance  of  his  appreciation 
and  rejoicing  in  things  that  are  good.  Whether  he  was  most  a 
"radical"  or  a  "  conservative''  no  one  could  tell,  for  he  was,  in  the 
best  sense  of  these  much  abused  terms,  both.  No  one  would  have 
rejoiced  more  heartily  than  he  in  the  re-union  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  North  and  South;  but  if  such  union  were  to  be  secured 
by  any  implied  endorsement  of  another  schism  in  the  house  of 
God  on  the  line  of  race  or  color,  he  would  have  sooner  plucked  out 
his  right  eye  than  give  it  his  personal  sanction. 

His  brethren  in  the  Chicago  Presbytery  say  that  no  other 
member  could  be  so  missed  as  he.  And  it  is  certain  that  among 
our  Congregational  ministers,  all  who  had  the  good  fortune  to 
know  him,  feel  that  it  is  a  brother  who  has  passed  away.  The 
article  which  we  print  this  week  on  another  page  of  The  Advance 
indicates  well  the  spirit  of  the  man. 

Such  men  as  Dr.  Noyes  help  this  world  of  ours  not  less  by 
what  they  are  than  by  what  they  do.  The  happy  consequences, 
near  and  remote,  still  goon;  and  so  does  the  sweet  helpfulness 
that  springs  from  the  memory  of  what  they  were,  continue.  God's 
"  inheritance  in  the  saints"  grows  from  year  to  year;  and  so,  in 
fact,  does  ours.  The  great  apostle  charges  his  "  own  son,"  Titus, 
to  be  a  "  lover  of  good  men."  Dr.  Noyes  was  that;  and  he  has 
wonderfully  helped  others  to  be  the  same. 

A  sweeter  spirit  ne'er  drew  breath; 

Strange  grew  the  chill  upon  the  air, 
But  as  he  murmured,  "  This  is  death;" 

Lo!  life  itself  did  meet  him  there. 

€jfracte  fron?  f ri&ate  £dfcr<5, 

WHICH    SUGGEST    ESTIMATES    OF    CHARACTER;    GIVEN    IN    THE 
ORDER    OF    THEIR    RECEPTION. 

Mrs.  Z.  M.  Humphrey,  Lake  Forest,  III. 

"  Nothing  since  the  death  of  my  husband  has  touched  me  just 
as  this  touches  me.  Your  father  and  he  were  more  than  contem- 
poraries— they  were  brothers— -friends,  in  the  highest,  truest  sense. 
When  many  were  endeavoring  to  say,  for  the  church  at  large,  in 
what  high  regard  my  husband  was  held,  it  was  your  father  who 

57 


'  touched  the  quick'  and  satisfied  me.  It  was  to  your  father  that  I 
turned  for  the  encouraging,  as  well  as  the  comforting,  word,  when 
I  came  back  to  Chicago,  Naomi-like,' saying,  'Call  me  Marah.' 
Again  and  again  I  have  gone  to  him  for  advice — for  the  lift  of  a 
strong,  friendly  hand  over  some  hard  spot, — and  never  have  I  been 
turned  away  with  the  feeling  that  he  was  annoyed  by  my  frequent 
coming." 

Rev.  E.  F.   Williams,  Pastor  of  South  Congregational  Church, 
Chicago. 

"  To  meet  him  was  always  a  joy,  to  counsel  with  him  a  privi- 
lege, to  be  intimate  with  him  a  blessing.  In  no  one  in  Chicago 
did  I  have  more  confidence,  and  for  no  man  did  I  entertain  more 
respect.  He  was  an  ideal  man,  as  nearly  faultless  in  his  character 
as  any  man  whom  I  have  ever  known.  For  us  he  has  gone  all  too 
soon,  but  not  a  moment  too  soon  for  himself." 

Mrs.  E.   W.  Blatchford,  Chicago. 

"Just  as  our  friends  were  gathering, — his  friends,  most  of 
them,  too, — the  news  of  his  departure  came  to  my  husband,  who 
took  me  aside  to  share  in  his  deep  feeling,  and  to  help  him  recover 
his  composure  for  the  duties  before  us.  How  solemn  was  the 
thought  that  one  of  our  bidden  guests  had  been  summoned  to  the 
Home  above!  You  were  very  kind  to  give  us  that  message  from 
his  lips, — and  how  like  himself,  how  thoughtful  of  others,  in  the 
midst  of  his  weariness  and  exhaustion,  to  think  of  it  even." 

Mrs.  Henry  W.  King,  Chicago. 

"  Your  dear  father  was  beloved  by  every  member  of  this  house- 
hold, and,  particularly  of  late,  he  had  been  a  wise  and  sweet  com- 
forter. .  .  .  We  looked  eagerly  for  his  visits,  and  shall  miss 
him  more  than  you  can  believe.  How  mysterious  are  God's  provi- 
dences, and  how  hard  it  is  to  see  that  it  was  best  to  take  such  a 
valuable  life  out  of  a  world  that  needs  the  ministrations  of  such 
goodness  and  such  a  lofty  example!" 

Rev.  J.  E.  Chapin,  Neenah,   Wis. 

"  Your  father  was  an  important  influence  in  nearly  the  whole 
of  my  ministerial  life.  He  was  ever  the  sympathetic  friend,  the 
animated  companion,  the  wise  counselor,  the  able  champion.  The 
pleasant  home  of  the  early  times  in  Indiana  was  a  delightful  resort. 

58 


The  companionship  of  later  years  was  a  strength  and  a  joy.  How 
often  has  he,  in  his  kindly  suggestions,  let  a  flood  of  light  upon 
my  way!  What  cheer  and  helpfulness  his  presence  always 
brought  into  our  household!  .  .  .  You  children  have,  indeed, 
a  great  loss,  a  far  greater  one  than  any  friend.  But  you  have,  too, 
a  precious  inheritance  in  your  father's  character,  eminent  useful- 
ness, wise  counsel,  noble  example.  He  was  a  marvel  to  me  in  the 
bearing  of  affliction." 

Mr.  Julius  Barnes,  Laportc,  Ind. 

.  .  .  "  One  of  the  best  friends  I  ever  had  has  just  entered 
into  the  joy  of  his  Lord ;  and  as  with  me,  so  with  hundreds  of 
people,  his  friendship  was  cherished  with  great  pleasure;  his  life 
was  a  benediction  and  a  joy  forever  to  a  great  multitude.  We 
cannot  wish  him  back,  nor  can  we  see  just  ivhy  he  should  be  taken, 
who  was  so  helpful,  so  sympathizing,  so  devoted  and  loyal  to  his 
Master.  .  .  .  I  fancy  he  has  merited  the  welcome,  '  Well  done, 
good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord,'  and  with 
what  zest  will  he  enter  into  this  joy,  who  was  so  ready  to  rejoice 
with  them  who  rejoice,  and  to  weep  with  them  that  weep  here." 

Rev.  J.  M.  Linn,  Pastor  Presbyterian  Church,  Gencseot  III. 

"  His  name  and  influence  will  fill  a  great  place  in  the  history  of 
the  Church,  in  this  State  especially.  He  was  never  weary  of,  or 
in,  well  doing.  His  mind  took  in  the  measure  of  every  great  prac- 
tical question,  and  his  ear  was  alert  to  every  call  of  duty.  He  was 
as  aggressive  as  he  was  prudent.  He  was  a  leader  who  always 
had  a  following.  His  great  genial  heart  always  controlled  the 
humor  and  wit  of  his  tongue;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  excitement 
of  great  assemblies,  his  words  always  called  up  those  cairn  moments 
of  deliberation  when  the  passions  of  men  subside  to  the  level  of 
serious  thought." 

Rev.  E.  D.  Morris,  D.  D.,  Lane  Seminary. 

"  Dr.  Noyes  commanded  the  respect  and  confidence  of  men  by 
reason  of  his  own  manifest  manliness:  a  manliness  evidently 
framed  after  the  one  perfect  Mode),  and  suffused  very  largely  with 
the  gracious  as  well  as  the  positive  and  faithful  temper  of  his 
Master.  He  will  be  long  remembered,  not  only  for  what  he  was 
as  a  Christian,  but  also  for  his  many  labors  and  his  fresh  and  vig- 
orous discussions  of  living  questions.  The  Church  he  loved  and 
served  so  well,  will  not  soon  forget  him." 

59 


Mrs.  SalUc  Andrew  Shafer,  Frederick,  Md. 

'•  I  can  remember  nothing  further  back  than  his  kind  face  and 
voice,  and  it  has  always  been  a  pleasure  for  me  to  know  that  I  was 
one  of  the  first  group  of  little  children  who  were  brought  to  him 
to  be  made  children  of  the  Master  he  served.  Although  it  has 
been  a  long  time  since  I  heard  him  preach,  some  of  the  good  seed 
he  sowed  is  still  precious  to  me ;  especially,  as  of  late  I  have  been 
watching  by  the  death-bed  of  a  dear  friend,  one  sermon  of  his  has 
come  to  me  over  and  over:  '  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant  con- 
cerning them  which  sleep'.  .  .  .  The  Church  Militant  has  lost 
a  noble  general,  and  the  Church  Triumphant  has  another  saint." 

Mrs.  K.  S.  Mann,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

"  I  esteemed  your  dear  father  as  a  personal  friend,  and  in  the 
hours  of  mourning,  his  sympathizing  words  consoled  our  aching 
hearts.  So  we  mourn  with  you  and  your  family  in  your  great  loss. 
We  should  rejoice  in  that,  thus  soon,  he  has  gained  the  crown  of 
rejoicing,  which,  for  him,  is  so  richly  gemmed  with  the  souls  he 
has  won  to  Christ." 

Mrs.  y.  H.  Trowbridge,  Chicago. 

"  I  have  a  great  longing  to  speak  some  word  of  comfort  to  you 
to-night,  and  I  do  not  know  how  I  can  do  it  more  effectually  than 
by  sending  you  a  letter  which  I  cherish  among  my  choicest  treas- 
ures (see  page  66).  .  .  My  heart  gave  assent  to  all  the  true  and 
tender  words  which  were  spoken  of  him  to-day  (at  his  funeral), 
but  I  felt  that  the  half  was  not  told, — nor  could  it  be  put  into 
words,  nor  will  it  be  known,  until  '•the  day  shall  declare  it!'  .  .  . 
Those  beautiful  visions  of  which  he  spoke  were  the  prophecy  of 
the  glory  of  heaven.  That  look  of  wonder  and  rapture,  which 
came  into  his  dying  eyes,  was  the  vision  of  things  unseen  and 
eternal.  Shall  we  not  thank  God  for  every  remembrance  of  him?' 

J.  A.  Wyeth,  M.  D.,  New  Tork  City. 

"  Too  good  a  man  to  let  go,  and  a  big  honor  to  have  such  a 
father.  Broad-brained  and  generous-hearted — a  Christian  and  not 
narrow!  That's  saying  a  great  deal,  and  Dr.  Noyes  was  one  of 
the  very  few  I  could  say  that  much  for." 

Rev.  H.  Kendall,  D.  D.,  Board  of  Home  Missions,  New   Tork 

City. 
"  He  was  a  stalwart  man,  and  never  sick  before  that  I  know  of, 

60 


and  not  one  that  I  should  expect  to  see  sicken  and  die,  only  that 
we  all  of  us  are  liable  to  drop  off  any  day.  Have  known  the  Doctor 
many  years,  and  seen  $*ood  work  that  he  has  done.  1  have  come 
to  know  him  and  love  him  all  the  better  from  working  with  him 
in  the  matter  of  Home  Missions  in  the  Presbytery  of  Chicago,  and 
in  the  whole  Synod  of  Illinois.  I  had  a  facetious  letter  from  him 
with  regard  to  my  picture  in  the  January  number  of  The  Church 
at  Home  and  Abroad.  It  was  written  the  yth  inst.  (January,  1889), 
and,  as  he  said,  when  he  was  bolstered  up  in  bed,  and  saying  that 
he  had  a  severe  and  painful  attack  of  pneumonia,  but  the  disease 
was  then  broken,  and  he  expected  to  be  out  and  at  work  again  in 
ten  days.  Yesterday  completed  the  ten  days,  and  it  was  the  day 

of  his  funeral That  letter  was  probably  the  last  one  he 

ever  wrote.  ...  I  had  a  feeling  when  I  read  the  letter  that  he 
was  not  in  a  condition  to  write." 

Rev.  H.  D.  Jenkins,  D.  D.,  Frceport,  111. 

"  Dr.  Noyes  and  I  were  fellow  guests  during  the  Centennial 
Assembly  in  Philadelphia,  and  our  intercourse  there  only  deepened 
the  affection  and  reverence  in  which  I  held  him.  He  was  my  ideal 
of  a  minister  in  this,  that  he  was  at  once  sound  in  the  faith  and 
liberal  in  the  spirit  of  his  ministry.  The  beauty  of  his  conversa- 
tion was  that  he  found  so  much  to  praise  and  so  little  to  condemn 
in  his  brethren.  His  gifts  were  those  that  I  most  admire  in  the 
pulpit,  accurate  information,  clear  statement,  evident  sincerity  and 
tender  sympathy.  His  loss  to  the  Presbytery  must  be  almost  as 
great  as  to  the  church  at  Evanston,  for  few  gave  so  much  of  their 
time  to  the  discharge  of  those  duties  which,  neglected,  involve  in 
loss  the  common  interests  of  the  Church.  I  do  not  know  where 
the  Presbytery  or  Synod  will  turn  to  find  one  equally  faithful  and 
efficient  in  these  important  trusts." 

Rev.  W.  A.  Bart  let  t,  Pasadena,  Cal. 

"  The  exceedingly  pleasant  recollections  I  have  of  him 
in  his  thorough  and  hearty  friendliness  and  loving  sympathy.  In 
her  weak  condition,  the  news  of  your  father's  death  was  a  special 
blow  to  Mrs.  Bartlett,  who  has  for  years  regarded  Dr.  Noyes  as 
one  of  her  warmest,  truest  friends.  She  .  .  .  learned  to  love  and 
revere  him  both  from  what  he  was  to  her  as  a  friend,  and  from 
the  help  she  derived  from  his  teachings.  .  .  .  We  remember, 
with  peculiar  pleasure,  his  hearty  good  will  on  that  occasion  (of 
their  wedding).  He  was  the  most  merry  and  boyish  one  after  the 

61 


ceremony,  with  all  his  grace  and  dignity.  He  came  to  the.  train  in 
Evanston  to  see  us  off,  and  insisted  on  throwing  rice  after  us,  and 
filling  our  bags  with  it.  We  often  laugh  about  it,  now.  When 
Mrs.  Bartlett  was  taken  ill,  he  wrote  one  of  the  most  tender  and 
hopeful  letters  I  have  ever  read — a  letter  that  is  treasured,  I  assure 
you.  ...  In  talking  about  your  father  yesterday,  we  spoke 
of  the  beauty  of  such  a  life, — so  full  of  fragrance.  It  hardly  seems 
as  if  he  could  have  left  a  sweeter  memory,  had  he  lived  longer. 
In  God's  sight  his  work  was  done,  his  sheaf  full  of  ripe  grain- 
The  remembrance  of  what  he  was  and  did  not  only  in  that  remark- 
able pastorate  in  Evanston,  but  everywhere  he  was  known,  cannot 
help  bearing  fruit  for  good  that  cannot  be  estimated." 

Rev.  D.  S.  Johnson,  D.  D.,  Pastor  Second  Presbyterian  Church, 
Springfield,  III. 

"  I  feel  more  keenly,  as  the  days  go  on,  the  loss  of  one  of  the 

best  of  friends, — a  brother  to  me   for  twenty  years I 

count  it  among  the  choicest  treasures  of  my  life  to  have  known 
him,  and  enjoyed  his  friendship  so  long." 

Miss  Harriet  A.  Farrand,  oj  The  Advance,  Chicago. 

"  I  had  known  your  brother  for  many  years,  and  for  many 
years  was  proud  and  happy  to  be  numbered  among  his  friends. 
His  calls  at  The  Advance  office  were  like  sunshine  to  us  all.  They 
made  the  day  brighter  and  life  cheerier  every  time.  .  .  .  What 
a  man  he  was!  So  true,  so  noble,  so  brave,  so  strong,  and  yet  so 
tender  and  considerate!  He  was  my  ideal  man.  There  was  no 
other  like  him.  His  unchanging  friendship  has  been  a  blessing  to 
me  all  these  years." 

Rev.  W.   W.  Adams,  D.  D.,  Fall  River,  Mass. 

"  We  roomed  together  in  the  Seminary  for  two  years,  and  I 
well  remember  the  attack  of  hemorrhage  which  we  both  feared 
might  be  '  the  beginning  of  the  end,'  with  him,  near  the  close  of 
his  Senior  year.  His  physician  forbade  his  speaking,  and  he  com- 
municated with  me  by  writing In  six  months  he  was 

almost  entirely  well.  .  .  .  Your  father  was  spared  to  see  his 
children  ail  well  started  in  life,  with  Christian  character  and  good 
prospects.  He  had  seen  many  results  of  his  life-work,  and  knew 
that  he  had  not  labored  in  vain.  He  rests — blessedly,  and  his 
works  do  follow  him." 

62 


Geo.  L.  Andrew,  Jf.  D.,  Laporte,  Ind, 

"  The  twenty  years  which  have  elapsed  since  your  father's 
removal  from  Laporte,  have  in  no  way  lessened  the  high  estima- 
tion in  which  he  was  held  during  the  ten  years  of  his  pastorate 
here.  We  have  watched  his  rise  with  a  family  pride,  rejoiced  in 
all  his  successes,  and  mourned  over  his  afflictions, — and  now,  that 
we  can  see  his  dear,  kindly  face  no  more,  feel  that  much  of  the 

light  has  gone  out  of  our  lives He  had  almost  decided, 

before  coming  here,  to  devote  himself  to  teaching  as  a  profession. 
Various  considerations  had  pointed  toward  such  a  conclusion, — a 
sense  of  the  awful  responsibility  of  the  pastoral  relation,  a  depreca- 
tory view  of  his  own  abilities,  and  the  fear  that  his  lungs  could  not 
stand  the  demands  which  must  be  made  upon  them," 

Mr.  E.  S.   Wells,  Lake  Forest,  III. 

"  I  learned  long  ago  to  love  and  honor  your  brother,  and  to 
have  great  confidence  in  his  wisdom  and  judgment.  Upon  any 
questions  in  which  we  may  have  differed,  there  was  none  whose 
conflicting  opinion  caused  me  to  halt  and  consider  more  than  his. 
No  man,  who  knew  his  ripe,  mature,  honest  Christian  judgment, 
could  afford  to  differ  from  him  without  many  sober,  second 
thoughts." 

Mrs.  C.  L.  Ra-juson,  Mandarin,  Fla. 

"  He  was  to  me  and  mine  the  dearest,  most  valued  friend  we 
had  on  earth.  .  .  .  There  are  few  left  like  him,  so  true  to  all, 
so  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  every  duty,  so  unostentatious,  so 
humane.  To  know  him  was  to  trust  and  love  him.  His  great 
heart  .  .  bore  the  burdens  of  many." 

Mrs.  J.  B.  Lamkiu. 

"  I  would  that  I  could  tell  you  the  help,  the  comfort,  the 
strength,  he  was  to  me  during  the  long  years  of  invalidism.  He 
kne-w  and  understood  my  inner  life.  .  .  .  He  had  a  wonderful 
nature,  a  wonderful  power  to  enter  into  the  heart  and  guide  and 
help  by  wise  and  tender  words.  ...  In  his  dear  letter  of 
Christmas  day,  he  ...  spoke  fully  of  his  life,  his  home,  his 
'ever  beloved  wife,'  his  grand  children,  his  church,  and  of  all  so 
fondly  and  tenderly." 

Mrs.  Annie  Van  Hoff,  Springfield,  III. 

"  Although  so  many  years  have  passed  since  I   have  seen  Dr. 

63 


Noyes,  you  know  with  what  loving  and  respectful  admiration  I 
have  always  remembered  him.  I  have  never  forgotten  the  happy 
years  spent  under  his  ministry,  nor  the  kindly  interest  he  showed 
in  me  personally,  though  I  was  merely  a  school  girl.  .  .  .  Any 
article  from  his  pen  has  always  possessed  a  peculiar  interest  for 
me,  and  I  have  felt  a  sort  of  personal  pride  in  the  many  tributes  of 
praise  paid  to  his  character." 

Mrs.  Lydia  R.  Clark,  Northficld,  Minn. 

"Having  been  for  six  precious  years  under  the  pastoral  care  of 
your  dear  lamented  father,  my  husband,  daughter  and  self  endorse 
all  the  tender  and  beautiful  thoughts  sorrowing  hearts  have 

breathed  about  his  bier I  still,  after  nearly  four  years' 

absence,  miss  the  consolation  of  his  Sabbath  morning  prayers,  and 

the  stimulus  of  his  brave,  unfaltering  courage Your 

father  was  ....  a  veritable  Great  Heart,  ever  imparting  to 
his  fellow  pilgrims,  of  the  feeble-mind  and  ready-to-halt  character, 
of  his  own  cheerful  sympathy,  faith  and  confidence." 

Mrs.  A.  L.  O shorn,  Laporte,  Ind. 

"  In  a  letter  from  your  father,  written  Dec.  25th. he  says,  'Last 
Sunday  morning,  in  church,  I  baptized  my  second  grandson,  giving 
him  the  name,  George  Noyes.  He  is  a  splendid  little  fellow.  I 
hope  he  will  grow  up  to  be  a  better  and  an  abler  minister  than  his 
grandpa  has  been.'  In  the  same  letter  he  tells  me  of  his  constant 
joy  in  the  love  and  dutifulness  of  his  children.  What  comforting 
words  for  his  beloved  family!  These,  being  among  his  last  words, 

must  be  an  incentive  to  be  like  him I  cannot  find 

words  to  tell  you  how  much  both  my  husband  and  myself  loved 

your  dear  father We  shall  never  forget  his  words  of 

cheer  and  sympathy,  and  how  bright  and  good  he  looked. 
How  you  all  must  miss  him,  his  home  life,  of  such  warm  and  lov- 
ing affection,  and  so  much  enjoyment!" 

From  a  Friend. 

"  Nothing  since  the  loss  of  my  precious  child  has  affected  me  as 

has  the  death  of  your  father My  coming  back  to  life 

dated  from  the  day  that  I  sat  broken  and  crushed  by  the  grave  of 
my  dead  hopes,  when  your  father  came  to  me,  and  with  words  of 
courage,  consolation  and  admonition,  awakened  in  me  a  new  life, 
and  I  reconsecrated  myself  to  the  work  of  the  blessed  Master." 

64 


fron?  9r.  Moves'  {M&afc  Hclfcrs. 

The  first,  addressed  to  a  bereaved  parishioner,  and  the  second, 
addressed  to  the  widow  of  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.  Trowbridge,  evince  his 
notable  wisdom,  sympathy  and  sincerity  as  a  "  son  of  consolation." 
The  others  were  written  to  his  daughter,  and  illustrate  some  of  his 
qualities  as  a  father. 

"  MY  DEAR  MRS.  ANGLE: 

I  thank  you  for  your  sorrowful  letter It  must 

have  done  you  good  to  write  it.  It  certainly  has  done  me  good  to 
read  it;  for  I  have  not  only  read  it  at  my  leisure,  but  I  at  once 
found  leisure  to  read  it.  ........ 

I  would  not  have  you  concerned  to  spend  the  communion 
Sabbaths  without  tears.  Let  the  tears  flow!  Are  they  not  blessed 
tears?  Do  they  not  witness  to  a  peace  greater  than  your  sorrow, 
great  as  I  know  that  to  be?  And  do  they  not  purge  the  vision, 
thus  making  the  disclosure  of  spiritual  glories  more  clear?  Let 
me  quote  for  you  Mrs.  Browning's  lines: 

'  Thank  God  for  grace, 
Ye  who  weep  only  !     If,  as  some  have  done, 
Ye  grope  tear-blinded  in  a  desert  place, 
And  touch  but  tombs,  look  up  !    Those  tears  will  run 
Soon  in  long  rivers  down  the  lifted  face, 
And  leave  the  vision  clear  for  stars  and  sun  !' 

'  I  know  it  is  selfish  to  dwell  on  my  loss,'  you  say.  Not 
necessarily  so,  by  any  means.  Dwelling  on  your  loss  may  be — I 
am  inclined  to  think  it  is  sometimes,  at  least  in  your  case — one  of 
your  most  unselfish  and  hallowed  exercises. 

There  may,  of  course,  be  bitter  repining  and  complaining,  and 
if  so,  that  is  selfish  and  very  sinful.  But  to  dwell  upon  your  loss, 
keenly  and  very  painfully  to  feel  it,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  to 
know  the  love  and  peace  of  God,  and  to  know  them  all  the  more 
because  of  the  very  agony  of  sorrow  through  which  you  have 
come  into  their  enjoyment — this  is  the  farthest  possible  from 
being  selfish.  I  do  think  I  know  what  that  experience  is. 

Do  not  borrow  trouble.  Do  not  doubt  that  the  anniversary 
days,  which  are  so  near,  ....  will  be  more  full  of  peace 
than  they  will  be  of  comfortless  sorrow. 

I  thank  you  sincerely*for  your  assurance  of  sympathy.  I  do, 
indeed,  walk  in  a  very  sorrowful  way.  Not  a  day,  nor  a  waking 
hour,  passes  that  I  do  not  feel  the  pang.  It  is  all  a  mystery  to  me 

65 


why  one  so  good  and  gentle  and  faithful,  should  be  left  in  such 
dreadful  darkness.  But  when,  as  often  happens,  I  faint  and  fall 
under  my  great  burden,  and  my  heart  breaks,  then,  blessed  ever- 
more be  His  name,  '  He  healeth  the  broken-hearted?  He  will 
ever  do  so  for  you.  Trust  Him,  and  do  not  fear.  As  one  who 
knows  what  sorrow  is,  I  remember  you  always  in  your  sorrow, 
and  I  am  ever  sincerely, 

Your  friend  and  pastor, 

GEORGE  C.  NOYES. 
SABBATH  NIGHT,  April  i,  1883." 

"  EVANSTON,  ILL.,  January  n,  1887. 
MY  DEAR  MRS.  TROWBRIDGE: 

It  is  all  over!  I  am  here  in  my  study,  feeling  deeply  that  the 
world  is  colder  since  that  heart  was  stilled,  which  ever  beat  true 
and  warm  for  all  his  friends,  of  whom  I  know  that  I  was  one.  I 
cannot  make  him  dead!  He  is  not  dead!  He  is  alive  forevermore. 

'Jesus,  thou  Prince  of  life  ! 
Thy  chosen  cannot  die  ; 
Like  thee,  they  conquer  in  the  strife, 
To  reign  with  Thee  on  high.' 

I  have  kept  up  all  day  [the  day  of  the  funeral],  only  by  the 
hardest  efforts  at  repression,  and  when  I  got  home  this  evening 
there  came  the  blessed  relief  of  tears  to  eyes  unused  to  weeping, 
*  Lover  and  friend  hast  thou  put  far  from  me,  and  mine  acquaint- 
ance into  darkness!'  No,  not  into  darkness,  since  for  him  the 
darkness  is  now  forever  past. 

The  loss,  which  to  me  is  great,  since  it  removes  from  me  one 
of  my  dearest  friends,  is  to  you,  as  I  can  well  understand,  almost 
insupportable.  But  calmer  days  will  come.  A  brighter  pathway 
will  open  before  you.  A  blessed  necessity  will  be  upon  you  of 
caring  and  living  for  your  children,  in  doing  which  you  will  have 
an  added  joy  in  remembering  often  that  they  were  and  are  also  his 
children.  The  double  duty  of  keeping  the  little  flock  for  him,  and 
of  presenting  them  'faultless  before  the  presence  of  His  glory  with 
exceeding  joy,'  will  bring  you,  oftentimes,  a  double  measure  of 
peace. 

You  will,  I  am  sure,  not  allow  yourself  to  brood  over  your 
sorrow.  In  cheering  the  hearts  and  brightening  the  days  of  your 
children,  watching  that  their  young  lives  be  not  blighted,  but 
rather  purified,  by  their  sorrow — and  in  doing  good  to  others  as 

66 


opportunity  and  your  own  strength  may  permit — you  will  be  daily 
comforted,  and  because  comforted,  therefore  a  comforter.  This  is 
the  Divine  law.  May  the  dear  Lord  enable  you  ito  say,  with  Mrs. 
Browning : 

'  For  us  whatever's  undergone, 
Thou  knowest,  wiliest  what  is  done. 
Grief  may  be  joy  misunderstood  : 
Only  the  Good  discerns  the  good, 
I  trust  Thee,  while  my  days  go  on. 

Whatever's  lost,  it  first  was  won  ! 

We  will  not  struggle,  nor  impugn. 

Perhaps  the  cup  was  broken  here, 

That  heaven's  new  wine  might  show  more  clear. 

I  praise  Thee,  while  my  days  go  on.' 

And  may  He  also  enable  you  constantly  to  realize  the  pres- 
ence and  tender  sympathy  of  Him  who  is  *  touched  with  the  feel- 
ing of  all  our  infirmities  !'  of  whose  wonderful  ministry  to  the 
sorrowing  that  singularly  gifted  poet  and  artist,  William  Blake, 
thus  wrote: 

'Oh  !  He  gives  to  us  His  joy 
That  our  grief  He  may  destroy  ; 
Till  our  grief  is  fled  and  gone, 
He  doth  sit  by  us  and  moan.' 

As  I  could  not  follow  the  habit  of  my  life  by  calling  and 
sitting  for  awhile  with  the  bereaved  in  the  evening  following  the 
dark  day  on  which  they  bury  their  dead,  I  send  you  these  poor 
words  of  sympathy." 

"EvANSTON,  ILL.,  February  28,  1882. 

Care  and  you  are  strangers,  or,  at  any  rate,  just 

now  alienated  from  each  other,  and  I  will  not  attempt  to  make 
you  acquainted  or  reconciled  with  each  other.  .  .  .  You  have 
been  now,  lacking  a  few  hours,  two  weeks  a  bride,  and  while  it 
would  be  vain  to  expect,  and  therefore  unwise  to  wish,  that  your 
whole  life  may  be  as  full  of  continuous  joy,  on  whose  strong  tide 
you  shall  be  borne  along  to  the  end,  as  you  have  been  borne  on  it 
these  two  weeks,  yet  it  is  reasonable  to  hope  that  you  will  accept 
all  life's  joys  in  such  a  spirit  as  that  they  shall  not  intoxicate,  and 
thus  be  a  snare  to  you,  and  all  life's  sorrows  in  such  a  religious 
trust  that  they  shall  become  to  you  fountains  of  deeper  joy.  If 
you  do  not  become  a  much  better  woman  than  your  father  is  a 
man,  caring  less  for  self  and  more  for  others,  considerate  of  their 

67 


welfare,  promoting  by  what  you  do  and  what  you  do  not  do  their 
ease  and  quietude  of  mind,  cultivating  simple  tastes,  avoiding  fash- 
ionable follies,  '  loving  thyself  last' — I  shall  have  reason  to  feel 
that  my  manifold  shortcomings,  in  counsel  and  example,  have 
wrought  more  to  the  formation  of  your  character  than  my  sincere 
purposes  and  constant  efforts  to  be  faithful  as  a  father  and  true  as 
a  man.  I  have  an  unspeakable  longing  that  all  my  children 
should,  above  all  things  else,  seek  the  enduring  riches  of  right 

character I  have  been  slower  to  write  than  I  meant 

to  be,  but  I  am  overwhelmed  with  work — writing  sixty  hours  a 
week,  besides  other  work." 

"NEW  TACOMA,  WASHINGTON  TERRITORY, 

October  2,  1883. 

Here  I  am  safe  and  sound  at  the  Ultima  Thule 

Twenty-five  hundred  miles  from  home!  I  never  wandered  half 
so  far  away  before.  But  still  the  heart,  untravelled,  abides  at 
home,  and  with  those — my  ever  beloved,  though  long  suffering 
wife,  my  children,  very  dear  to  me,  and  my  friends — whom  I  love. 
But  for  serving  them,  and  serving  my  day  and  generation,  I  should 
not  be  here,  for  I  love  travel,  not  for  its  own  sake,  but  for  the 
rich  stores  of  information,  the  treasures  of  memory,  which  I 
thereby  gather." 

"September  19,  1884. 

My  greatest  earthly  joy  is  the  love  of  my  children,  and  I  wish 
to  live  for  them,  for  their  own  sake,  for  their  ever  dear  mother's 

sake and  for  the  dear  Lord's  sake.      No  earthly 

good  is  so  earnestly  desired  by  me  as  their  best  welfare." 

"  EVANSTON,  ILL.,  April   i,  1886. 

We  reached  home  [from   a  trip  to  Mexico],  safe   and  well. 

.     .     .     .     My  welcome  home  from   everybody  whom  I  have 

seen,  both  old  and  young,  has  been   extremely  cordial  and  hearty, 

leaving  me  no   room   to  doubt  the   confidence    and  love  of    my 

people." 

"  EVANSTON,  ILL.,  May  12,  1887. 
MY  BELOVED  DAUGHTER: 

Upon  this,  your  birthday,  I  am  moved  to  give  you,  as  a  birth- 
day present — words,  but  words  which  have  my  heart  in  them. 

May  your  life  be  one  of  far  less  sorrow  than  mine  has  been. 
And  yet  if  I  were  to  wish  that  your  life  might  be  one  of  as  great 

68 


joy  as  mine  has  been — and  no  greater — I  should  invoke  in  your 
behalf  a  large  measure  of  joy,  for  such  measure  has  been  mine. 
Chief  among  my  joys  are  those  which  I  have  had  and  have  in  my 
children,  and  in  you,  my  eldest  born  and  only  daughter.  They 
have  been  good  children,  comforting  me  much  in  the  sorrow  I 

daily  have My  life  has,  indeed,  been  much  clouded, 

but  then  all  the  glory  of   it  has  come  of  the  clouds,  irradiated,  as 

these  have  always  been,  by  Divine  grace May  your 

children  give  you  as  much  comfort  in  their  growing  up,  and  in 
their  maturity,  as  mine  have  given  me.  May  they  always  be  as 
good  to  you  as  they  are  noiv  dear  to  me. 

With  a  great  deal  of  love  to  you  and  to  your  husband,  and 
invoking  upon  you  both  and  all,  every  rich  blessing,  both  temporal 
and  spiritual, 

I  am,  your  devoted  father, 

GEORGE  C.  NOYES." 

3  fecnfp  gears'  Pastorate. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Geo.  C.  Noyes,  D.  D.,  preached  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  of 
Evanston,  111.,  November  18,  iSSS. 

"  This  twenty  years  have  I  been  with  thee." — Genesis  xxxi:  j8. 
These  words  which  Jacob  addressed  to  Laban,  in  reminding 
him  of  the  length  of  time  that  he  had  served  him,  1  may  fitly  use 
to-day  with  reference  to  this  greatly  beloved  church.  This  Sab- 
bath will  complete  the  twentieth  year  that  I  have  been  with  you. 
And  even  as  the  seven  years  that  Jacob  served  for  Rachel  "seemed 
unto  him  but  a  few  days  for  the  love  he  had  to  her,"  so  the  twenty 
years  of  my  service  I  have  spent  here,  I  may  truly  say,  have 
seemed  to  me  to  pass  very  swiftly  for  the  love  I  have  had  for  the 
people  for  whom  I  have  labored. 

•  Swifter  than  the  flight  of  the  most  swiftly  flying  bird  is  the 
lapse  of  time.  Its  flight  is  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures  under  various 
comparisons.  It  is  a  vapor,  a  dream,  a  watch  in  the  night,  a  flower 
that  no  sooner  blooms  than  it  withers,  a  tale  that  is  told.  Here  it 
is  as  a  weaver's  shuttle,  passing  quickly  to  and  fro;  there  it  is  a 
web,  speedily  and  perhaps  suddenly  finished  from  want  of  thread. 
Time  was  represented  by  the  ancients  with  wings,  as  not  running, 
but  flying.  Jacob  speaks  of  his  days  as  still  '  few,'  when  he  was 
at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  thirty,  so  quickly  have  his  years 
passed  away.  Much  more  quickly,  then,  might  a  period  of  time 
not  one-sixth  as  long,  seem  to  "  glide  swiftly  by,"  like  a  cloud- 
shadow  on  the  sea,  like  a  wind-wave  on  the  field  of  bending  grain, 

69 


or  like  a  meteor  in  the  sky.  So  quickly  have  the  twenty  years  of 
my  life  here  passed  by,  that  it  seems  but  a  little  while  since,  one 
chilly,  rainy  Saturday  afternoon,  November  21,  1868, 1  arrived  here 
a  stranger  to  begin  my  work — all  unknowing  what  these  years 
had  in  store  for  me  of  joy  and  of  sorrow.  When  I  came,  it  was 
to  a  little  church  standing  on  this  lot.  The  building  was  of  wood, 
and  capable  of  seating  about  250  persons.  It  had  no  lecture-room 
or  Sabbath-school  room.  The  church,  which  had  been  organized 
four  months  before  by  Dr.  Patterson  and  the  Rev.  James  T. 
Matthews — the  former  little  thinking  then,  I  am  sure,  that  it 
would  afterwards  become  the  welcome  and  happy  home  of  himself 
and  his  family — numbering  thirty-eight  members. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  Congregational  church  in  1869, 
there  have  been  seven  other  churches  organized  in  the  village. 
Twenty  years  ago  there  were  five,  and  I  believe  only  five,  churches 
in  the  whole  town,  and  not  the  village  alone,  of  Evanston.  Now 
there  are  twenty-one,  of  which  eight  are  Methodist,  so  that  this 
denomination  still  maintains,  though  not  in  such  degree  as  form- 
erly, its  ascendancy. 

In  1870  we  enlarged  our  own  church  edifice,  adding  a  hundred 
sittings  to  the  main  audience-room,  and  a  pleasant  lecture-room. 
This  building,  with  all  its  contents,  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  the 
early  Sabbath  morning  of  May  2,  1875.  The  work  of  rebuilding 
on  the  same  site  began  almost  immediately,  so  that  we  were  able 
to  hold  our  first  service  in  the  lecture-room — a  Christmas  service — 
on  Sabbath,  December  26th,  of  the  same  year.  Upon  July  23, 
1876 — the  nation's  centennial  year — this  house  was  dedicated  to 
the  worship  of  Almighty  God.  The  cost  of  the  edifice  was  about 
$25,000,  including  all  its  appointments,  but  not  including  the  lot. 
In  the  interval  between  the  destruction  of  the  old,  and  our  entering 
the  new,  house  of  worship,  the  homeless  flock — though  generously 
offered  hospitality  by  all  our  sister  churches — yet  found  it  best 
suited  to  their  committee  to  meet  in  Lyon's  Hall. 

Those  were  days  of  trial,  and  days,  too,  of  peril.  At  the  time 
the  necessity  was  laid  upon  us  to  build,  the  whole  community  was 
suffering — and  our  people  not  less  than  others — from  severe  and 
protracted  financial  depression.  The  prevailing  tone  in  business 
circles  was  one  of  despondency.  The  devastating  Chicago  fire,  by 
which  some  of  our  people  were  financially  ruined,  and  all  of  them 
crippled,  had  occurred  only  three  and  a  half  years  before,  and  none 
of  them  had  recovered  from  that  fearful  blow.  But  harmony  in 
counsel,  unity  in  effort,  brave  hearts  and  self-sacrificing  spirits, 

70 


with  the  rich  blessing  of  God  crowning  all,  brought  us  safely 
through.  We  were  obliged,  for  a  time,  to  carry  the  burden  of  a 
debt,  which,  however,  was  entirely  cancelled  in  1883. 

The  measure  of  our  spiritual  prosperity,  though  never  so  great 
as  we  might  all  well  desire,  has  yet  been  gratifyingly  large.  The 
instances  are  very  few  comparatively,  in  all  this  period,  when  we 
have  sat  down  to  the  Lord's  table  without  having  some  new  ones 
to  join  us,  either  by  letter,  or  on  confession  of  their  faith  in  Christ. 
During  these  twenty  years  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  welcome  to 
the  communion  of  this  church  618  persons  by  letter  and  345  on 
confession,  making  a  total  of  963.  If  we  had  suffered  no  losses  by 
death  and  by  removal  in  all  these  years,  our  membership  would 
now  amount  to  1,001.  The  average  annual  addition  has  been  a  little 
more  than  forty-eight,  while  the  average  yearly  addition  on  con- 
fession has  been  seventeen  and  one-fourth. 

The  great  joy  has  been  mine  to  place  the  sacramental  sign  and 
seal  of  the  covenant  upon  the  brows  of  145  children.  And  here 
let  me  say  that  there  is  no  office  which  I  perform  as  a  minister 
which  impresses  and  moves  me  so  profoundly  as  the  service  of  the 
baptism  of  children.  The  thought  of  the  future  of  these  little 
children — whether  the  now  puny,  undeveloped  wills  shall  early 
become  fixed  and  strong  in  the  service  of  God  or  in  the  choice  of 
evil — takes  powerful  hold  upon  me,  and  binds  me  to  a  life  of  inter- 
cession in  their  behalf  which  I  can  never  forget  nor  neglect. 
However  parents  who  bring  their  children  thus  to  God, may  after- 
wards fulfil  or  violate  their  sacred  vows,  for  myself  I  must  ever 
afterwards  pray  that  these  dear  lambs  may  always  be  kept  safe  by 
the  loving  Shepherd,  and  never  be  permitted  to  wander  off  and 
perish.  Of  these  children  whom  I  have  baptized,  it  is  within  my 
knowledge  that  seventeen  of  them  have  been  taken  by  the  good 
Shepherd  to  his  own  bosom,  leaving  each  father  and  mother  miss- 
ing and  mourning  one  of  these  lambs,  to  say  in  comfort  and  in 
hope, 

"  And  the  baby  in  his  cradle  in  the  churchyard 
Sleeps  sound  till  the  bell  brings  me." 

Twenty-seven  have  come  into  the  church,  seventy-eight  are 
still  too  young  to  come,  leaving  twenty-two,  whose  parents  have 
moved  elsewhere  with  them,  unaccounted  for.  With  deep  and 
continuous  interest  and  prayer,  I  follow  them  all,  and  trust  the 
dear  Lord,  "who  beareth  the  lambs  in  his  bosom,"  to  suffer  them 
never  to  perish  nor  to  wander  into  the  far  country.  Their  names 
are  often  before  me. 

7' 


Not  often,  considering  our  numbers,  have  we  been  called  to 
mourn.  My  register  shows  the  names  of  203  persons,  at  whose 
funerals  I  have  been  called  to  officiate  or  assist — a  little  more  than 
ten  annually.  Of  these  many  were  not  of  this  congregation. 
Fifty-six  of  them  were  more  than  sixty  years  of  age;  thirty-two 
were  more  than  seventy  years  old;  eleven  were  more  than  eighty, 
one  of  these  eleven  being  eighty-nine,  and  another  eighty-nine  and 
a  half.  The  united  ages  of  these  eleven  octogenarians  make  922 
years.  Forty-six  were  little  children  under  six  years  of  age,  and 
most  of  them  under  two  years. 

"  Only  a  baby's  grave  ! 
Some  foot  or  two  at  the  most, 
Of  star-daisied  sod,  yet  methinks  that  God, 
Knows  what  that  little  grave  cost." 

"  Only  a  baby's  grave  ! 
Yet  often  we  come  and  sit 
By  the  little  stones,  and  thank  God  to  own 
We  are  nearer  heaven  for  it!" 

Death  has  thus  come,  with  impartial  visitation,  to  the  very  aged 
and  to  the  very  young,  and  to  all  ages  between,  admonishing  us 
that  no  age  is  exempt  from  his  imperious  call,  and  that  we  should 
always  be  ready,  "  having  our  loins  girded  about  ....  and 
we  ourselves  like  unto  men  that  wait  for  their  Lord." 

During  these  years  seventy-five  couples  have  stood  before  me 
to  take  upon  themselves  the  sacred  and  inviolable  vows  of  marri- 
age. A  group  of  150  newly  wedded  people — if  they  could  all  be 
brought  together  as  all  alike  newly  wedded — ought  to  be  surely  a 
very  happy  company. 

Passing  now  to  speak  of  our  contributions  for  benevolent 
objects,  and  for  the  support  of  our  own  church  work,  I  am  sorry 
that  I  have  not  the  full  record  of  what  we  have  done.  I  can  only 
present  the  figures  from  1883 — when  we  first  adopted  our  plan  of 
systematic  giving — to  1887  inclusive.  During  this  period  of  five 
years,  our  contributions  to  the  boards  and  other  benevolent  objects 
aggregate  $23,113,  or  a  yearly  average  of  $4,622  ;  and  for  our 
church  support  an  aggregate  of  $41,538,  including  the  payment  of 
a  debt  of  $7,000.  All  our  contributions  for  the  last  five  years,  not 
including  the  year  now  closing,  amount  to  $64,651,  or  a  yearly 
average  of  $12,930.  Before  the  adoption  of  the  plan  of  system- 
atic giving,  our  annual  contributions  were  not  nearly  so  large  as 
they  have  since  been.  Probably  the  aggregate  of  all  our  contribu- 
tions for  the  fifteen  years  not  included  in  the  statement  just  made, 

72 


would  amount  to  $i  10,000,  making,  for  the  whole  twenty  years,  a 
grand  total  of  $174,000,  a  yearly  average  of  $8,200.  How  much, 
outside  of  this  sum,  individual  members  of  the  congregation  have 
given  to  all  good  causes  and  objects,  only  he  knows  who  ever 
watches  what  is  done,  and  all  that  is  done,  by  every  one  in  his  or 
her  ministrations  to  the  persons  and  causes  which  are  needy  and 
worthy. 

But  after  all,  facts  and  figures,  such  as  I  have  been  giving,  can 
but  poorly  tell  the  story  of  a  church's  life  and  work.  The  best  of 
the  story,  as  well  as  the  largest  part  of  it,  must  ever  be  that  which 
is  written  upon  human  hearts,  and  which  no  eye  can  read  but 
God's.  What  the  services  of  this  house  have  been,  Sabbath  by 
Sabbath,  and  year  by  year,  to  many  sinning  and  weary  hearts,  to 
many  troubled  or  darkened  homes,  and  what  the  fellowship  of 
believers  has  here  been  to  all  who  have  had  part  in  the  work  and 
worship  thereof,  is  known  only  to  God. 

There  have  been  times  of  discouragement,  of  struggle,  and  of 
sad  spiritual  dearth,  during  this  score  of  years.  But  we  have  never 
been  permitted  to  fall  out  among  ourselves.  A  delightful  spirit  of 
peace  and  harmony  has  so  prevailed  among  us  that  it  has  never 
once  been  broken  or  interrupted.  We  began  with  thirty-eight 
members,  and  we  have  now  somewhere  from  450  to  500,  and  have, 
besides,  a  goodly,  proper  and  prosperous  child  of  our  love  in  the 
South  Evanston  Presbyterian  Church,  organized  with  fifty  mem- 
bers three  years  ago  the  28th  of  last  June,  and  numbering  now 
nearly,  or  quite,  three  times  as  many.  In  our  Sabbath-school, 
larger  now  than  ever  before,  well  officered  and  well  equipped  for 
doing  more  fruitful  work  than  at  any  time  in  the  past ;  in  our 
Bethel  School,  which  offers  an  enlarging  field  for  missionary  work, 
and  where  many  of  our  young  people  are  doing  a  faithful  service 
that  is  worthy  of  all  praise  ;  in  our  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  which  is 
stronger  and  more  active  than  ever  before  ;  in  our  Woman's 
Missionary  Society  and  Young  Ladies'  Society  and  Children's 
Mission  Band,  all  working  by  little  and  little  to  carry  the  blessed 
gospel  to  those  who  have  it  not ;  in  our  Ladies'  Association,  dili- 
gent as  Dorcas  in  providing  garments  for  poor  missionaries  and 
their  families  ;  and  in  the  kitchen  garden  where,  yesterday  fore- 
noon, in  the  lecture-room  below  were  gathered,  as  they  will  be 
every  Saturday,  eighty-four  poor  girls,  who  are  taught  how  to  sew 
and  make  their  own  garments,  while,  in  addition,  twenty-four  of 
this  number  are  taught  to  do  kitchen  and  housework — in  all  these 
organized,  and  in  manifold  private  and  unobserved,  ways,  we  are 

73 


trying  to  do  the  work  which  belongs  to  us  as  a  church  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Though  we  should  do  a  thousand-fold  more  than  we  are 
doing,  we  should  still  be  in  debt  to  Him  to  whom  we  owe  all  that 
is  good  in  our  hearts  and  lives  and  homes,  and  all  that  is  bright 
and  best  in  our  hopes  of  the  future. 

Four  things  we  need  in  order  to  attain  our  greatest  efficiency  in 
future  service.  These  are:  Patience,  so  that  one  worker  shall  never 
be  fretted  at  nor  fretted  by  another  worker;  Courage,  so  that  diffi- 
culties, instead  of  daunting  and  discouraging  us,  we  shall  resolutely 
overcome;  Faith,  so  that  we  may  remove  the  mountains  of  unbe- 
lief which  are  in  the  way  of  our  bringing  men  and  women  to  the 
Savior;  and  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  to  be  sought  and  received  in 
copious  effusion  through  earnest  prayer  and  loving  obedience. 

In  a  review  of  this  kind,  many  things  press  for  utterance  which 
I  must  necessarily  pass  by  without  mention.  1  have  been  able  to 
present  only  the  barest  outline  of  the  history  of  these  twenty  years, 
in  church  and  community.  And  there  are  many  counsels  which  I 
should  be  glad  to  speak  of,  but  I  must  not  tax  your  time  to  do  so. 

Of  your  unfailing  kindness  and  love  for  me,  I  cannot,  however, 
forbear  to  make  grateful  acknowledgment.  You  have  more  than 
fulfilled  the  injunction  conveyed  in  the  familiar  couplet, 

"  Be  to  his  faults  a  little  blind; 
Be  to  his  virtues  very  kind." 

Bearing  continually  a  sorrow  than  which  there  is  only  one 
greater — that  which  comes  in  the  form  of  dishonor  and  disgrace — 
your  constant  love,  next  to  that  of  the  Savior  himself,  has  ever 
been  as  that  of  a  most  precious  cordial.  In  bearing  your  sorrows 
I  have  learned  to  forget  my  own,  and  I  have  found  how  good  it 
is,  not  only  "  to  rejoice  with  them  that  do  rejoice,"  but  most  of  all 
"  to  weep  with  them  that  weep." 

I  have  no  greater  joy  than  that  of  seeing  you  live  blameless, 
consistent,  beautiful,  fruitful  Christian  lives,  nor  any  greater  sor- 
row than  that  of  seeing  any  forsaking  their  first  love.  To  have 
Christ  ever  with  you  and  in  you  by  his  Holy  Spirit  ;  to  walk  up 
and  down  in  his  name;  to  work  and  to  rest  as  in  his  sight;  to  have 
his  light  shining  ever  on  the  path  by  which  you  journey  to  the 
heavenly  city ;  to  have  his  grace  working  in  you  both  to  will  and 
to  do  of  his  good  pleasure;  to  have  your  labor  lightened,  your  care 
relieved,  your  sorrows  healed,  your  leisure  sweetened  by  his  love — 
this  is  life  indeed,  and  the  life  which  I  earnestly  covet  for  you  all. 
I  have  ever  aimed  to  preach  unto  you  a  broad  gospel — as  broad  as 

74 


the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  which  is  to  all  men.  And  yet 
with  not  less  earnestness  have  I  endeavored  to  preach  a  narrow 
gospel — as  narrow  as  the  way  which  leadeth  unto  life.  Would 
God  that  those  who  have  long  heard,  and  who  have  hitherto  turned 
away  unheeding,  might  to-day  give  heed — "  the  more  earnest 
heed,"  without  which  hearing  continues  unprofitable  and  harden- 
ing. Would  it  not  be  a  loss  unspeakable  to  this  community,  and 
also  to  interests  which  are  world-wide  in  their  extent,  and  pro- 
foundly important,  if  this  church,  with  all  its  activities  for  good, 
were  suddenly  blotted  out !  Imperfect  as  it  is,  still  is  it  not  doing 
a  grand  work  in  instructing  the  ignorant,  comforting  the  sorrow- 
ful, relieving  the  needy,  saving  the  lost  !  Will  you  take  no  part 
actively  in  its  work?  Do  you  not  need,  will  you  not  to-day  seek, 
the  great  salvation? 


75 


